There was Redfield’s claim on CNN that the U.S. got hit hard because Americans 
are fat (as well as stupid).   That actually has the ring of truth.

From: Friam <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Wednesday, April 7, 2021 11:13 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] lockdowns

Nick,

First and and with strong emphasis: I do NOT "want to believe that public 
health measures don't work." Never said so, never implied so.

The public health measures, and in particular the lock downs, taken in response 
to COVID were guesswork — informed guesses perhaps, but still guesses. The 
rhetoric to the contrary — "we will do what the science tells us" — were 
nonsense if the utterers actually believed what they were saying, and 
intentional — "for your own good" — falsehoods if not.

Which brings us to the "fear" issue you raised. The only way, so the 
politicians seem to believe, to mobilize the masses to do something that they 
would not normally want to do is to terrorize them.

I am completely skeptical that any "scientific" public health measures will 
result from this pandemic. Too much political CYA, too little real data for 
real scientists to work with, too many variables.

Perhaps, my personal actions are the foundation for your assertion about my 
public health beliefs. I did the best job I could to determine my personal risk 
in my personal context and based my actions accordingly. I took into account 
what the "experts had to say," but critically and with, what counts for me, 
some common sense.

I was not trolling or pranking you; merely repeating a study reported in the 
mainstream media. Glen suggested that the authors of that study were biased to 
the conclusions because they had argued against lock downs before. May be true, 
I don't know. Whether they "controlled" for the variables you noted and whether 
or not what they had to say was accurate at a particular point in time but not 
later. Don't know.

Why did you pick CN and ND and ignore CA and FL?

davew


[BTW: If you are 49th in population density, why do you need hard lock downs? 
it would seem that social distancing is a given in some very real sense. Maybe 
all those bikers at Sturgis went home via ND and dropped the virus off on the 
way and that is why they were late to the party.]

On Tue, Apr 6, 2021, at 9:48 PM, 
[email protected]<mailto:thompnickson2%40gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi, Dave,
>
> Am I allowed to answer the same email twice?  Well, I guess we'll see.
>
> I cannot imagine states more different than north Dakota and
> Connecticut.  Ct is 48th in size, 4th in density, and was next to two
> of the early hot spots.  North Dakota is 17th in size, and 49th in
> density and was late to the party.  ND is first in total cases per
> population, CT is 24th.  You're trolling me, right?  Omigosh.  I've
> been pranked.
>
> Still, I want to know -- NOT a rhetorical question -- why you WANT to
> believe that public health measures don't work.
>
> Nick
>
>
>
>
> Nick Thompson
> [email protected]<mailto:ThompNickSon2%40gmail.com>
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <[email protected]<mailto:friam-bounces%40redfish.com>> 
> On Behalf Of J Dalessandro
> Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2021 8:24 PM
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group 
> <[email protected]<mailto:friam%40redfish.com>>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] lockdowns
>
> Sorry, but my experience in Australia was/is much different.  Lock down
> and serious penalties greatly reduced community transmitted cases.
> Early intervention and penalties was key.
>
> //Joe
>
>
> ---
> [email protected]<mailto:j03d%40photonmail.com>
>
>
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
> On Tuesday, March 16, 2021 8:56 AM, Prof David West
> <[email protected]<mailto:profwest%40fastmail.fm>> wrote:
>
> > the AP published a study that seems to demonstrate lock downs had no effect 
> > on Corona spread. South Dakota and Connecticut (small states) had very 
> > similar outcomes despite widely variant degree of lock down. So too Florida 
> > and California, the latter draconian while the former laissez-faire.
> >
> > Of course all the usual caveats applicable to such studies apply.
> >
> > I wonder if any country/state would dare to do an honest cost-benefit study?
> >
> > davew
> >
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>
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