Theyimpose more restrictions. However, the magazine removed the CDCs message that preventative measures could also reduce the total number of infections, instead focusing on not overwhelming hospital capacity. Mina said the lack of evidence of widespread transmission in the country may be making people feel any aggressive step right now may be an overreaction. I think the whole notion of flattening the curve is to slow things down so that this doesnt hit us like a brick wall, said Michael Mina, associate medical director of clinical microbiology at Bostons Brigham and Womens Hospital. On April 9, the Hawaii Department of Educationannouncedthat all public schools are expected to stay shut until COVID-19 is no longer spreading in the community, defined as four weeks with no new cases.. The emphasis is only on social distance, wear three masks, and wait for a vaccine." ", Dr. Deborah Birx, who served as the White House Covid-19 Task Force coordinator under Trump, offered a glimpse last week into the early confusion over the science. A version of the chart and the phrase flatten the curve first appeared in a 2007 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about ways to control the We also want to express great appreciation to the American people. Over the last two years, one of the largest power grabs in the history of the world has taken place as fearful citizens willingly surrendered their rights to the state for the promise of safety. In one of her first public appearances since leaving her role in the White House, Birx said there were doctors "from credible universities who came to the White House with these opposite opinions.". '", "virus does not spread easily from contaminated surfaces. This excerpt sums it up nicely: "Telling Americans to wear masks when theyre unnecessary undermines efforts to persuade more people to wear masks where they are vital Banning college students from outdoor walks wont make them stay inside their dorm rooms for weeks on end. On Sunday, the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, James Bullard, told Bloomberg that the US unemployment rate could surge to 30% in the coming months. Everyone will be exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, and most people will become infected. However, at the national level, it seems the Biden Administration is doubling down on the status quo of shutdowns, social distancing, and masks, as the primary solution to COVID-19. ET state and local government budgets cratered. TheFinancial Timesreported on April 29: The World Health Organization has defended Swedens approach to tackling Covid-19, saying it has implemented strong measures to tackle the virus. Now, with 2020 coming to an end and the US reporting, on average, 180,000 new cases and more than 2,000 new deaths every day, there is no more hope for Members of the Trump administration advocated that the virus just be allowed to spread to get to herd immunity. Canadian PM Trudeau followed suit the following day and told the citizens of Canada that they need to be angry at the unvaccinated for spreading covid, using his pulpit to dehumanize and threaten people for their personal medical choices. But with the intense focus on vaccines that has followed the deep politicization of the pandemic, that argument has often been explicitly rejected. Thus, on April 2, Anthony Fauci, one of the lead bureaucrats on the White Houses COVID-19 advisory commission insisted that mandatory social distancingcould not be eased until further notice: If we get to the part of the curve where it goes down to essentially no new cases, no deaths for a period of time, I think it makes sense that you have to relax social distancing, [Fauci] added. Countries across Europe, with the highest vaccination rates in the world, are now going into yet another round of lockdowns as cases hit record numbers. Well need 30 years to reach sufficient immunity. "From what I am hearing now, it likely will be 12 to 18 months before a vaccine is available.". Instead, that early guidance focused mostly on urging people who feel sick to stay home and for everyone to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people. And then we again run the risk of overwhelming hospitals and thereby putting even those at little risk from the virus at risk of more-limited health-care options. COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire in all countries, but we do not see itit almost always spreads from younger people with no or weak symptoms to other people who will also have mild symptoms. Barbot, now a professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, said in a phone interview that the federal government's testing woes put the city "behind the eight ball before the game even got started. Its time we act that way. It wasn't until early April that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization acknowledged that wearing a mask could help protect people, she said. When the WHO declared COVID a pandemic, across the world the strategy was to "flatten the curve" of infections rising over time. If you appreciate what we do, please support us. Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit, Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower, Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower. "This is where technology really begins to take us forward in leaps and bounds.". In New York City, some hospitals were overwhelmed, but the initial wave soon passed. This begs for hard thought into the arena of Planned Infection as an effective handling of this pandemic. Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist and biodefense professor at George Mason University, said the "15 days to slow the spread" guidance demonstrated "a lack of awareness for managing outbreak response." Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Early on, we were told one of the most challenging aspects of COVID-19 was that individuals could spread the virus even if they showed no symptoms. Should we be canceling classes? Flatten the curve remains a popular goal among policymakers, but now were back to the old definition: fear remains that hospitals and healthcare personnel will be overwhelmed. When the pandemic began, no one knew anything. This is the strategy., He declared that worst enemies of democracy are lies and stupidity, then declared that his government is putting pressure on the unvaccinated by limiting, as much as possible, their access to activities in social life.. Enter your email to receive notifications of new posts. On March 16, 2020, the Trump administrationreleased a 15-day planto slow the spread of the coronavirus in the US. Exclusive analysis of biotech, pharma, and the life sciences, For many countries staring down fast-rising coronavirus case counts, the race is on to flatten the curve.. You do that by trying to interfere with the natural flow of the outbreak.. The U.S., compared to the big countries of Western Europe, did flatten the curve. This is historical material frozen in time. Their analysis, posted on a preprint server in advance of peer review, came to a chilling conclusion. We are now nearly two years, 2 presidents, 6 trillion dollars, and countless stolen rights into slowing the spread. A March 11 article forStatnews,summed it up: I think the whole notion of flattening the curve is to slow things down so that this doesnt hit us like a brick wall, said Michael Mina, associate medical director of clinical microbiology at Bostons Brigham and Womens Hospital. Numbers: Has NYC started flattening the curve Harvards top infectious diseases epidemiologist Lipsitch projects deaths in the millions. The new recommendations are simple to follow but will have a resounding impact on public health. I thought the concentration camps were working. Nonetheless, one is still likely to encounter rabid COVID warriors on social media, who think that interminable lockdowns will (somehow) significantly reduce the overall total deaths from COVID-19. The arrival of omicron as winter nears has led to a surge in new cases around the globe and in the United States, including in better-vaccinated states. ", "I cannot see that all of a sudden, next week or two weeks from now, it's going to be over," he said in an interview with the Today show. 2023 CNBC LLC. For donating, please view the following page by clicking here. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. We adapt to our new and improved circumstances and then lower the bar for what we count as intolerable levels of discomfort and risk." Although we didnt see a difference in peoples ideas or behavioral intentions based on their awareness of the chart, the message is still beneficial because theres some evidence that it allowed people to form a more informed decision without relying on trust.. Should we be canceling our flights? Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories, The Trump administration has released a 15-day plan to, The plan involves asking healthy Americans to avoiding social gatherings and. The virus is spreading, were are told, including widely throughout the vaccinated population, because of the unvaccinated who are now dirty non-citizens., On Tuesday, French President Macron gave an interview to the La Parisien, in which he dehumanized the unvaccinated and urged other citizens to hate them, likening them to their worst enemies., I am not about pissing off the French people, Macron told the readers of Le Parisien. What history revealed about cities that socially distanced during a Flattening the curve refers to using protective practices to slow the rate of COVID-19 infection so hospitals have room, supplies and doctors for all of the patients who need care. Every Sunday at 11:00am EST/New York. And with it went the idea of flattening the curve. Other public health specialists weren't so forgiving of the White House's early response to the pandemic. 15 days to flatten the curve Again, weve seen that increases in coronavirus infections have, in fact, strained intensive care units since the pandemic began. Let's hope our government has learned that lesson as we move into year two. The initiative should not have been tied to a timeline, she said, but instead to a specific task like reducing daily new infections to a certain level. You are overlooking the fact pointed out by Michael Osterholm that when these infected and distanced people eventually get out and into the workplace, public spaces, public transportation, etc., they will contribute to another spate of contagion and resulting deaths. But this is the problem, that people arent recognizing that we are at this moment and we can make a decision right now to flatten this curve by being OK with wondering if were being melodramatic, he said. Its really all borne out of the risk of our health care infrastructure pulling apart at the seams if the virus spreads too quickly and too many people start showing up at the emergency room at any given time.. But an individuals awareness of the flatten-the-curve graphic did not predict their willingness to engage in social distancing or their belief in societys ability to control the course of the pandemic. When did Published: March 15, 2020 at 11:21 a.m. The United States had confirmed just over 4,000 Covid-19 cases. This mass dehumanization by the establishment against people for their personal medical choices cannot be ignored or understated. Many experts at the time said it would have been impossible to slow a rapidly transmitting respiratory infection by effectively shutting down enormous cities and possibly counterproductive. Reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine, You've been selected! Yet a year later, less than ten percent of the U.S. population has reported contracting the virus (29.5 million cases in a population of 328 million), while roughly half a million (0.16%) have lost their lives.