A friend of mine from law school just passed away from Covid-19 at age 44.

[Pierre Smith]

It was approximately 10 days ago, but I just now learned of it.

As my other posts on here indicate, I believe that we should follow the data, and as the data are coming online, it's becoming more clear that this disease is a lot less deadly that we currently realize, probably no more than most Sars viri. The problem, of course, is that it spreads so much quicker, so will take down more people, even if the morbidity is only 1/10 of 1%. Hence the need to protect the vulnerable.

But even if that's true, and we've gone way overboard with the lockdown and it's out of all proportion to the threat: if you're in a group at risk - older, asthma, obese, etc - you should all take care and every protection, and wait this out until we get the herd immunity to

My friend was quite heavy and had asthma. He was on a ventilator for 4 days before he died. He may have beeninfected in the same wave that hit my office (see a post about a week ago). It's very very sad. He didn't have kids or anything, but he was a real presence, and it's a loss that he's now gone.

 

[samsam]

Very sorry to hear, condolences to you for losing your old friend.

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

It was approximately 10 days ago, but I just now learned of it.

As my other posts on here indicate, I believe that we should follow the data, and as the data are coming online, it's becoming more clear that this disease is a lot less deadly that we currently realize, probably no more than most Sars viri. The problem, of course, is that it spreads so much quicker, so will take down more people, even if the morbidity is only 1/10 of 1%. Hence the need to protect the vulnerable.

But even if that's true, and we've gone way overboard with the lockdown and it's out of all proportion to the threat: if you're in a group at risk - older, asthma, obese, etc - you should all take care and every protection, and wait this out until we get the herd immunity to

My friend was quite heavy and had asthma. He was on a ventilator for 4 days before he died. He may have beeninfected in the same wave that hit my office (see a post about a week ago). It's very very sad. He didn't have kids or anything, but he was a real presence, and it's a loss that he's now gone.

Dear Pierre,

I am sorry for your loss.

I hope you have some good memories that can comfort you.

Set out to make every new day your very best day. Life is so fragile, position yourself to never haver any regrets.

Best always,

T

 

[Ries]

I am aware of 3 friends of mine who have died. One in Seattle, one ten miles away, and one in NYC.
But I think if I really checked, I could find a few more in NYC and LA, who werent famous enough for me to see national obits.

I dont understand your SARS comparison- if you mean the percentage of deaths versus infections, then perhaps- but that seems completely irrelevant when this is so much more contagious. In 2002-2003, about 8000 people worldwide got SARS. And 800 died. Thats ten percent, by my math.

Current death toll from this is around 200,000. So if you look not at some percentage only of interest to academics, but, instead, at the actual numbers of people who just keep dying, Its much more deadly than SARS was. Much harder to stop, and much harder to treat.

 

[Pierre Smith]

More than anything, this is the issue: https://time.com/5825485/coronavirus-risk-factors/

We're not all in this together. Some people are a lot more vulnerable. We need to do a better job of making it clear who is and isn't vulnerable, and ensure that the vulnerable aren't exposed.

I still think that a swedish plus model is the best. But I'm more aware now that the human toll of not protecting the vulnerable can be pretty heavy.