Good article, thanks for sharing Bearister.
Quote:
When the influenza epidemic of 1918 infected a quarter of the U.S. population, killing tens of millions of people, seemingly small choices made the difference between life and death.
As the disease was spreading, Wilmer Krusen, Philadelphia's health commissioner, allowed a huge parade to take place on September 28th; some 200,000 people marched. In the following days and weeks, the bodies piled up in the city's morgues. By the end of the season, 12,000 residents had died.
In St. Louis, a public health commissioner named Max Starkloff decided to shut the city down. Ignoring the objections of influential businessmen, he closed the city's schools, bars, cinemas, and sporting events. Thanks to his bold and unpopular actions, the per capita fatality rate in St. Louis was half that of Philadelphia. (In total roughly 1,700 people died from influenza in St Louis.)
In the coming days, thousands of people across the country will face the choice between becoming a Wilmer Krusen or a Max Starkloff.
In the moment, it will seem easier to follow Krusen's example. For a few days, while none of your peers are taking the same steps, moving classes online or canceling campaign events will seem profoundly odd. People are going to get angry. You will be ridiculed as an extremist or an alarmist. But it is still the right thing to do.
Passing along the recommendations from a doctor in FL who is seeing the spike, with his hospital already fully mobilized:
If you are older, have a precondition and a weakened immune system (diabetes, heart condition, recent chemo, transplant etc) or have a parent in that situation,
practice extreme caution and social/self isolation
for the next month at the very least, avoid flying, public transit, shopping, having larger social gatherings or going out to crowded or semi-crowded spaces. Stay home for St Paddys. Avoid these things like the plague, because that's what it literally is, with your survival odds actually in the range of a russian roulette spin for those older or with preconditions...
By the next month, the public awareness level and mindsets are going to change drastically and most people will have acknowledged the seriousness of this situation, social distancing will be the norm. So the next week or two are a critical window, with idiots like Dr Drew and that real estate developer in the WH telling the public that "it's just a flu".
According to this FL ER doctor, the actual number of CV cases in the US is already well in the thousands and growing exponentially, because the numbers being reported are only those who are being treated for severe symptoms and are confirmed with CV, which is very low because they don't have many tests available (two weeks away from getting them in large enough numbers). The numbers currently reported are not even the tip of the iceberg, more like the snowcap on top of the tip of the iceberg... The great majority of these CV carriers have no or few symptoms, but are shedding the virus in the public sphere.
