Covid Revisionism

Neko Case - People Got a Lotta Nerve

Death Valley

The current consensus seems to be that closing schools for covid was the wrong call, terrible, and idiotic.

Wow, we have such short memories.

It isn't important to actually revisit the confusion and fear of the moment. But just remember that at the time, the 1918 Influenza was our best model of what might be happening. And, as documented many places, including National Geographic and Michael Lewis' The Premonition, closing schools was one of, if not the most powerful tool we had:

In 2007, a study in the Journal of the American Medial Association analyzed health data from the U.S. census that experienced the 1918 pandemic, and charted the death rates of 43 U.S. cities. That same year, two studies published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sought to understand how responses influenced the disease’s spread in different cities. By comparing fatality rates, timing, and public health interventions, they found death rates were around 50 percent lower in cities that implemented preventative measures early on, versus those that did so late or not at all. The most effective efforts had simultaneously closed schools, churches, and theaters, and banned public gatherings. 

Given how politicized and crazy people are at the memory of 2020-21, next time will be much worse in the United States.