I'm reading through this thread, and here is the way I see it. 200,000 deaths in 10 months is not bad, I agree. However, it all depends on your perspective.
First off, let me explain that I'm in Cincinnati. So far, we're relatively untouched by the virus; I'm working from home; my wife has suspended her massage practice. We're hunkering down. Kroger delivers groceries once a week. We supplement that with carryout. My mother is 91 and hasn't seen me in 2 weeks, even though I'm less than 2 miles away. The facility she's in is quarantined. KYHillChick had cancer surgery a little less than 2 years ago. We both have asthma. We are both over 60 I've got a history of diabetes and pneumonia.
Right now, there are 289 ICU beds in the county. There are 180,000 folks over the age of 60. If we get the virus, my wife and I will be competing with 622 potential patients for our ICU bed. I doubt they'll even worry about treating my mom. That puts the number down to 179,999. We're a stone's throw away from Pill Hill, a 2 sq mi section of Cincinnati where there are more hospital beds than anywhere else on the planet. However, if the S ever hits the everloving F they'll be all full up and the doctors and nurses will be just dragging bodies out to the reefer trucks parked in the lot. "Flattening the curve" has a real palpable meaning around here.
If we withdraw to the farm, the outlook might be cheerier; Bracken County, KY has 0 cases reported. However, it won't be long before they start showing up. All the counties in proximity to Greater Cincinnati have active cases and there's 1 death reported in Kenton County, KY, less that 50 miles away. There are no hospital beds within 30 miles of the farm. We'd be trucked to a little facility in Cynthiana or taken into Cincinnati.
If all goes well, those 289 beds get used efficiently, and nobody is left out in the hall on a gurney. If it doesn't go well, they'll be stacking KYHillChick and I along with all the others like cordwood.
