Been traveling Florida and much of “the south” this week. Stark differences between both laws and adherence to laws between here and what I am used to at home. People are generally masked, but I have yet to see a Karen telling someone that they aren’t wearing theirs right, or that they are standing to close. In Seattle, the Karens strike within minutes.
So it made me curious to compare the Covid death rates. We all hear that Florida is off the charts, but I chalked that up to the fact that they have a much older population. I had a bit of time yesterday, so I decided to make another one of my spreadsheets. This was is organized a bit better as I decided to share it. Data is pulled (as you can see in the citations) from each state’s DoH sites. Annoyingly, reporting scales are not standardized, but it is easy to see what is happening from this chart.
Conclusion:
Measures taken in WA and adherence to them, do appear to be making a difference in the number of reported COVID deaths and this difference (nearly half the death rate in WA compared to FL) is across the board for all age groups.
That said, to what end are we willing to go in order to extend the lives of those who are largely in end-of-life facilities? The flu kills upwards of 50,000 people in the US each year, and we don’t go to these lengths to stump it out. What is the end goal with this? Zero COVID? That can’t happen. Most of the world simply cannot afford to do this and this virus is going to be with us for the coming generations. Even if a magical vaccine comes out, it will be decades before 7 billion doses can be made and administered.
Things that may unfairly skew these numbers:
1. Population density is a major factor in airborne virus spread. Florida’s population density is 3.51 times higher than Washington.
2. Florida’s healthcare system appears to have a higher ratio of private vs government. Private hospitals have been heavily incentivized to record Covid deaths, as they get higher payouts from insurance and Medicare. It is not uncommon for a patient in their last hours of life, to test positive for 20+ different viruses, as their immune system is completely shot by that point and they catch a bit of everything present in a hospital full of other people in the same situation.
However, even with these factors considered, it does appear that distancing and shutdowns are having an effect.
