~3,000 Extra Deaths in SD, ND IA, WI, NE.
It always seemed unfair to compare MN directly to the other states in the region because we started fighting COVID months before the other states did. I assume because we have a large International airport and the others do not. So I picked July 18th as a start date for my comparison. My rationale was:
- It was ~6 months after COVID started and all the States had information. Where as at the beginning people were learning and acting simultaneously. (mistakes were made)
- All of the listed states were dealing with cases and making decisions on how they would respond by that date.
So I found data that showed COVID deaths by date by state and did the math. The result is pretty stark.
- ND and SD experienced deaths rates ~2.5 times higher than MN.
- IA experienced a death rate 1.5 times higher than MN
I then determined how many extra deaths occurred because the other states had exceeded MN's death rate. The number ended up being an extra ~3,000 residents of the "free states" were dead.
So my question as usual... Was not having state wide mask mandates, leaving bars / restaurants open, etc worth the lives of ~3,000 friends, neighbors, family members, etc?
8 comments:
Riles by State
ND Update
I like this term... "Fox Hole Religion"
"But some epidemiologists believe the most compelling factor for many who redoubled their efforts to prevent infections may be that they experienced the virus on a personal level. As the pandemic crept into communities across the Midwest, more people had loved ones, friends or acquaintances fall ill or die.
"It's fox hole religion - the whole thing gets a lot more real when the guy next to you gets shot," said Dr. Christine Petersen, the director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Iowa. "All of a sudden, your local hospital is full, and your sister, aunt, or grandmother is in the hospital."
Roughly one of out every 278 people across northern states spanning from Wisconsin to Montana required hospital care for COVID-19, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. In tight-knit communities, those experiences hit home."
It was real easy to deny COVID was real until Bob next door is on life support. It is too bad so many people need a "near death experience" to find religion.
COVID Changes
We have a psycological tendency to reject safety measures. The death v. freedom thing is simply one way we rationalize it.
--Hiram
I know I dislike wearing a seatbelt...
But that nagging beeper makes me comply everyday... :-)
I remember in the early days, people found ways to disconnect the beeper.
There are so many instances in which people reject safety measures. Seat belts are a favorite. Hockey helmits. Various vaccines. Senator Loeffler in Georgia wants senators to be able to trade stocks freely. This is a very foreseeable behavioral pattern which is is why we should anticipate it. It's why it was so important to respond to the virus early and effectively. Now that we haven't done that, the reaction sets in. People reject safety measures, like the vaccine while also, oddly enough, viewing them as a panacea. Trump is caught in this contradiction. After spending month touting the vaccine, his support for it, now that it is hear, is couched in ambivalence.
--Hiram
I see this as the USA's first real pandemic, so many did not take it seriously.
The Asian countries / citizens have dealt with this before and their cultures are much more society based, so it was easier for them.
If there is another pandemic, hopefully the citizens of the USA will not be so self serving and stupid next time.
Though I assume that is just wishful thinking in our "what's in it for me culture"...
We have had other health care threats, but they were limited in their impact. What does happen is that they become normalized which is what some are trying to do with the covid threat.
--Hiram
The old and weak die as nature intended.
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