Recently, one of my colleagues wrote a column about how the containment of COVID-19 is more harmful than the disease, considering the economic impact it has on our country. After reading through his piece, I take issue with several of his claims and think it dangerously supports the notion that we should open the economy, something North Carolina is not ready for.
One issue I have with my colleague’s piece is he mentions he could not find any similar events in modern history. Well, he clearly wasn’t looking hard enough because there is precedent for COVID-19: the 1918 flu pandemic. The H1N1 virus infected around 500 million people worldwide, infected around 50 million people in the U.S. and killed 675,000 people in the U.S. alone.
What was interesting about this pandemic was there was a high mortality rate for young people as well. Without any vaccines or antibodies for treatment, countries implemented stay-at-home orders, banned large public gatherings and encouraged safe-hygiene practices. Sounds familiar?
By comparison, as of the time of writing this column, there are over two million people in the world infected, over 800,000 people infected in the U.S. and around 48,000 people are dead in the U.S. alone. With the drastic rate at which COVID-19 is spreading, there is a dire need to maintain social distancing and quarantine, to ensure that this pandemic doesn’t reach the heights H1N1 did in 1918.
While the statistics of COVID-19 don’t compare with the 1918 pandemic and not too much is known about the virus, countries need to take the necessary precautions to prevent it from killing everyone. To say that there is no precedent is completely false, and considering how populated and intertwined the world is today, countries don’t want a more disastrous repeat of what happened over 100 years ago.
Another issue I have with his argument is when he compares the number of infections in North Carolina to suicides due to economic loss. I take issue with how he misinterpreted the data from the source he provided in his article. The articles states that around 10,000 people commited suicide due to the economic struggles from the 2008 recession. My colleague then compares it to the 6,700 infections in North Carolina.
What he fails to mention is that these deaths come from North America, Canada and Europe combined—two countries and a continent compared to a single state. This is an unfair comparison due to the massive population differences.
The article also states around 4,750 suicides in North America may have been caused due to economic pressure. As mentioned earlier, around 48,000 have died from the disease in the country. Now, I am an English major and numbers aren’t my strong suit, but I am pretty sure 48,000 is greater than 4,750, almost 10-times greater in fact. His claim makes absolutely no sense and is contradictory to the data provided.
I’d also like to add that my colleague invokes the small percentage fallacy, or that a small percentage lessens the impact of a situation. While .06% of infections may seem small, it still means 6,700 people, and counting, are at risk of dying. While he says he doesn’t know anyone that has been infected with the coronavirus, I do. Unfortunately, my pastor was infected with COVID-19. Luckily, he is okay and recovering, thank God. While 6,700 infections may not seem a lot to some, that number hits differently when someone in your community is at risk or has been infected.
Plus, with inadequate testing, we truly don’t know how many people are infected. After all, someone can spread the coronavirus while being asymptomatic. Without knowing who has and doesn’t have the disease, it’s dangerous to have people intermingling with one another.
An interesting note I like to add is the article mentions how suicide rates in countries like Sweden and Austria remained stable, despite facing the same economic hardships. A researcher also points out it may have to do with government support. Perhaps more social-safety nets can help feed children, people recover their retirement savings and generally survive during these trying times?
Overall, my colleague’s claims in this article are either misinformed or straight up false. While it is unfortunate the pandemic has led to economic hardships, the government is taking the right precautions to protect people from dying. And from what my colleague says, COVID-19 needs to be eliminated in order to help the state progress.
