Protecting Public Health does not mean Shutting Down

I don’t think we’ve been clear enough on this .. which has subsequently created a vacuum for broad sets of misinterpretation on every side.

I posted “We Need to Learn to Live With It ..” back in May, where I highlight my observations of COVID-19 .. but while “I’m not a Doctor ..” (I’m still not), I’m very plugged into this stuff. For reference:

• On April 24th, COVID-19 cases in Georgia stood at 22,147 with 899 deaths in the state.
• On May 8th, COVID-19 cases in Georgia stood at 32,171 with 1,399 deaths in the state.

We can live with it. We maintain our distance, wash our hands, wear our masks, avoid large crowds. With these mitigations, we can reduce the spread and reduce the virus reservoir that is hiding out there, just waiting for us to forget to be careful.

But we don’t.

So, here we are .. we need to get back to basics. “Follow the Data .. Not the Date“ (we don’t). “Behave Like you have it ..” (we don’t) and “Let’s Not Undo ..“ (we have).

Today: Wikipedia (updated with current numbers) says:

“The COVID-19 pandemic was first detected in the U.S. state of Georgia on March 2, 2020. The state’s first death came ten days later on March 12. As of October 13, 2020, there were 333,304 confirmed cases, 29,6762 hospitalizations, and 7,454 deaths. All of Georgia’s 159 counties now report COVID-19 cases, with four counties (Gwinnett, Fulton, DeKalb and Cobb) now reporting over 19,000 cases each. Three low-population counties (Early, Randolph and Terrell) have higher per capita case rates and death rates than New York City.”

From the post above: On October 13, COVID-19 cases in Georgia stood at 333,304 with 7,454 deaths in the state .. close enough to 10x where we were in April.

In the US, over 216,000 deaths as of today.

We’re (still) doing it wrong. We’re still getting bad information from the top. While we’re grateful with a rapid (albeit far better staffed and managed than regular citizens) recovery by our President, we are amplifying the public understanding of the disease.

We have to fix this .. we can fix this .. you can fix this.

Be smart. Be an adult. Do the right thing. Stay home when you can. Wear a mask when you cannot.