GCdaJuiceMan
Helluva Engineer
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Here's an interesting scenario in terms of the affects of the Covid-19 virus if social distancing and shelter in place policies weren't implemented.
https://www.georgia-demographics.com/counties_by_population
In GA, the three counties with the most reported infection cases are Fulton, Dekalb, and Dougherty. Fulton (1+ million) and Dekalb (740,00+)rank 1st and 4th, respectively, in terms of population size. Dougherty? 27th with 90,000+ residents.
Covid-19 cases:
Fulton:
Population - 1,021,902
Infection Cases - 1,844
Deaths - 62
Dekalb:
Poplution - 743,187
Infection Cases - 1,191
Deaths - 15
Dougherty:
Poplution - 91,049
Infection Cases - 1,308
Deaths - 15
If you've been to Dougherty, you know it's not anywhere near as dense as Fulton or Dekalb. Albany is the "big city" in that county. Their infection rate is 1.4% (2nd highest in the US currently).
Now extrapolate the infection rate of Dougherty to Fulton and Dekalb. Fulton would have 14,306 cases, and Dekalb would have 10,404 cases. Remember, the density of Fulton and Dekalb is far more than Dougherty.
Doing some tracing, the two events that triggered the large outbreak were a funeral and court case that called for jury duty:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/us/coronavirus-funeral-albany-georgia.html
https://www.law.com/dailyreportonli...read-through-the-dougherty-county-courthouse/
Something to also keep in mind about the numbers above: The infection numbers are for today, AFTER the shelter in place and social distancing orders were put into place and the events that spread the virus in Dougherty county happened a month ago.
So why is this of any concern. Resources (it was always about resources). More specifically, hospital beds:
https://www.ahd.com/states/hospital_GA.html
According to that survey, the state of GA has 22,000+ staffed hospital beds. If you model the Covid 19 after the US seasonal flu rate, and extrapolate it using just Fulton County numbers it becomes quite scary:
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2018-2019.html
US Total Population: 328+ Million
2018-2019 Flu cases: 35.5+ Million
Flu Rate: 10.82%
Fulton County Extrapolated Cases using 2018-2019 Flu Rate: 110,569
Furthermore, something to keep in mind:
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2018-2019.html
It's estimated that around 40% of the US population receives the seasonal flu vaccine every year. There is currently NO vaccine for the Covid 19. The Covid 19 virus has proven to be far more infectious than the seasonal flu.
So if you think about the impact, and not even in terms of death, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this virus can quickly overwhelm hospitals, and in turn, quickly shutdown parts of everyday society even without our Shelter in Place directives. Remember, during this time, people are still getting other illnesses or getting hospilized for current illnesses (Cancer, strokes, heart attacks, etc.) or accidents so they will also take up beds and time from nurses and doctors.
Hate to point this out but I think it was just a typo on your end. The Dougherty death total is a staggering 83.