Recognizing that we all have a bias is, for me, very important. I work hard to keep myself open to varied perspectives. Weeks ago I was struck by an important fact someone important to me shared. Last year, more than 34,000 people died from the flu in the US. At the time, deaths by COVID-19 in the US were a fraction of that. And we were shutting down parts of our country. It caused me pause.
And I researched. I watched documentaries about the Spanish flu of early last century. I watched international reporting from Italy and Europe. I researched the impact on past years of flu in the US. Were there times our health systems were overwhelmed?
Indeed, in 2016, there were 3 cities in the US that were overwhelmed by flu outbreaks. So, I watched the news with this perspective. And I saw another, then another, and another area of our country growing overwhelmed with COVID-19. It appeared to be larger in a short amount of time, but fatalities were not yet nearing the 34,000 from last year's flu. Were we over reacting?
Today, as I write this, we are quickly nearing historic numbers. We are not yet 2 months into this pandemic. Today alone, the number of fatalities have grown more than 2500. Soon we will be past the fatalities from last years flu. This, in just a few months! We have shut down much of our economy with draconian efforts to keep people distant. We did not do this last year to avoid the flu nor did we react this way when cities were overwhelmed in 2016.
The perspective provided me, by awareness of flu numbers past, would tell me that this is different. And just as I feel that listening to perspective has helped in my understanding, I see that now we must question fatality reporting. Supposedly, NY has over reported by 4000 deaths.
As I watch reporting, I see a story about someone who could not get tested and after death, his widow learned he had COVID-19. So, I if I subtract that, 3999 might be questionable. How many should I add that have not been properly attributed as deaths due to COVID-19?
Do I believe that somehow, for some nefarious reason, people are over reporting or under reporting? The reporting is coming from people - people on the front line. Do they all have some nefarious agenda?
We are in the middle of something we have not seen in a hundred years. Yes, it is important to have perspective. Vitally important! Yes, we need to carefully scrutinize the information presented. It's vitally important that we get smart and we get focused on what is important here. Our decisions on a daily basis are important. We need to get smart and we need to get focused on what keeps us all well.
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