The Coronavirus Aftershock

[GURPS]

For instance, U.S. GDP plunged by an almost unbelievable third in the second quarter of 2020.

How does that happen in a pandemic? The answer, as our friend Don Luskin points out, is that politicians panicked in March and waited for a surge of Covid-19 patients that the pandemic modelers told them would arrive. Blessedly, the modelers were wrong, and far fewer hospital and intensive-care beds were needed. But the economic harm from stopping all elective surgeries and barring visits to doctors was severe and unnecessary

Nor was the collateral damage caused by public health measures limited to dollars and cents. It is costing lives too. The British medical journal Lancet estimated that the deaths caused by delaying or foregoing “elective” medical treatment on just four types of cancers have totaled about 60,000 years of lost life. YLL estimates the years of potential life lost due to premature deaths.

Substantial increases in the number of avoidable cancer deaths in England are to be expected as a result of diagnostic delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. …

Since a national lockdown was introduced across the UK in March, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, cancer screening has been suspended, routine diagnostic work deferred, and only urgent symptomatic cases prioritised for diagnostic intervention. In this study, we estimated the impact of delays in diagnosis on cancer survival outcomes in four major tumour types….

We collected data for 32 583 patients with breast cancer, 24 975 with colorectal cancer, 6744 with oesophageal cancer, and 29 305 with lung cancer. Across the three different scenarios, compared with pre-pandemic figures, we estimate a 7·9–9·6% increase in the number of deaths due to breast cancer up to year 5 after diagnosis, corresponding to between 281 (95% CI 266–295) and 344 (329–358) additional deaths. For colorectal cancer, we estimate 1445 (1392–1591) to 1563 (1534–1592) additional deaths, a 15·3–16·6% increase; for lung cancer, 1235 (1220–1254) to 1372 (1343–1401) additional deaths, a 4·8–5·3% increase; and for oesophageal cancer, 330 (324–335) to 342 (336–348) additional deaths, 5·8–6·0% increase up to 5 years after diagnosis. For these four tumour types, these data correspond with 3291–3621 additional deaths across the scenarios within 5 years. The total additional YLLs across these cancers is estimated to be 59 204–63 229 years.

https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2020/08/03/the-coronavirus-aftershock-n739987

 

[Hijinx]

We need to drop the whole thing and get back to normal.

 

[herb749]

Haven't heard much about the drug part owned by Bill Gates, Redivsmer or something. It was brought up as a miracle cure and talked about glowingly. It was also pretty expensive.

Did it fail in results .?