One Year In - COVID by the Numbers

The State of Connecticut keeps really good COVID data, and it's eye opening. 

                                  Deaths by Age Group As a Percentage of Group Population

     Age Range    Deaths/Population

  0-29                 0.001%

 30-49                0.014%

 50-69                0.122%

 70-79                0.584%

   80+                 2.424%

The last two groups, those 70 and over, have accounted for 81% of the deaths even though they are only 12% of the population. Those 80 and over have a 3,954 times greater chance of dying than those under the age of 30.

Even those in the 50-69 group are relatively unaffected by COVID. If you were under 50, you effectively had zero risk, breathless media reports not withstanding.

What this means, of course, is that we never should have shut our country down. The correct response was to keep everything open while those over 65 or 70 took steps to self-isolate.

These data were pretty obvious by last June. Why was our policy response so bad?

The obvious answer is politics were in play. Blue states self-imposed the strictest lockdowns, and it hardly seems a coincidence. Anything to hurt the Orange Man.

The less obvious answer is that it's the baby boom, screwing everyone else, yet again. Consider who many of the people are who run the country: Pelosi, McConnell, Grassley, Leahy, Feinstein, DeWine, Sanders...now Biden. 

We are run by a gerontocracy. 

Then of, of course, there's this guy:

Anthony Fauci, age 80

The correct policy would have sidelined these people to Zoom while everyone else went about their business. It would have loosened their generation's grip on power, a power that has definitely outlived its welcome. 

Was self-interest involved here? I wouldn't discount it. They wanted the pain to be shared. It reminds me of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s, which really only affected one demographic group, but that wasn't the promulgated narrative.

Now, don't get all mad saying I have no proof. Of course I don't. But self-interest should never be underestimated as a motivational force.

Other considerations, one year on: 

• COVID has been a massive transfer of wealth from small companies to large corporations. Easy money has driven stock prices through the roof while the restaurant on the corner shuts its doors. This is not healthy for our country, but don't the Fortune 500 is in any hurry to change the status quo. 
• COVID testing has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry. Don't think they want to go away anytime soon.
• The private sector (generally) has suffered while the public sector grows ever bigger. Does anyone know of a public sector employee, anywhere, that has lost their job? This, despite tax revenues plummeting. This will mean still more borrowing to make up the difference, something the private sector will have to pay for.

It's time to open up the damn country.