Strikes me that there’s a lot of projection and double think here. At Prof Jerry Coyne’s blog, “Why Evolution is True”.
The choice of “acceptable” or “not acceptable” is a binary that seems designed to divide, and offers no context. I might vote “acceptable” if the choice for lower deaths required draconian lockdowns, taking no account of resulting costs: non-covid deaths, suicides, bankruptcies, etc, etc. Or I might vote “not acceptable” if I thought -- as have some that have attacked me -- that “one death is too many”, clearly an absurd position, but one embraced by increasing numbers who seem to think that death can be outlawed.
Coyne’s comparison with the deaths in Vietnam is not useful. In Vietnam it was (mostly) young men, dying in an unnecessary war. In Covid it’s (mostly) very elderly people with preconditions (like me). There’s a difference and it’s not callous, cruel or heartless to point that out. We do that all the time in our actuarial and insurance industries, and by determining Quality Adjusted Life Years.
Coyne’s claim that Republican states have handled the virus worse than Democrat states is belied by the data. As I showed here, every single one of the top ten worst performing states in terms of deaths per million are run by Democrat governors. That’s not to make any point other than that Coyne is wrong. While we are all struggling to find out how best to handle the virus, on all sides of the political spectrum. Here in Hong Kong we thought we were doing pretty well, then got hit with a “Third Wave”.
Coyne’s claim that the US could have done better in saving lives if it had locked down earlier is also belied by the data. As I showed here, with data on stringency of lockdown (Oxford U) vs cases and deaths per million (John Hopkins U) there is no correlation. The same is true in the US. Indeed, rather the reverse if anything.
Coyne’s final point about tribalism and divisiveness. Seems to me that the question itself and the results can only lead to more divisiveness, and the conclusion that “Republicans are evil”, because they don’t care for people dying. As I said above, this may not at all be the reason people might vote to say “acceptable” and Coyne is himself only adding to the tribalism by suggesting it.
Physician, heal thyself.
