Covid19

[Too Tall]

I read Robot Check a few years ago. Worth a read, imo.

There was a chapter where the doc goes into some math comparing deaths in Liberia from ebola to deaths from measles at the same time. What I recall (of course, his delivery and expertise put me to shame) is that each Ebola infection leads to few subsequent infections, but the odds of dying from infection are very high. In contrast, each measles infection leads to many infections but the odds of death are very low. With the near total shut down of the Liberian health sector and the strong emphasis on Ebola isolation, he estimated that more people died from relatively unchecked measles in Liberia than died from Ebola in the epidemic period.

Eggzactly. Turns out if you provide decent training, supportive care, antibiotics, a smidge of investigation and wee followup most infected patients recover and clusters go away. Presently, I think the most dangerous aspect of EBOLA is weaponizing by not allowing external support org.s into (fill in the blank at war countries) where there are outbreaks. But that's another story.