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Monday, May 11, 2020

Covid-19 What Do These Death and Infection Statistics Mean?






The USA is in turmoil. Some people are in favour of lockdown, others against.

You often hear or read:
'The percentage of people affected is less than one percent. That's less than die of flu.'
It is like comparing guns and knives. 
When I go to a doctor, I don't want him to refuse to treat me on the grounds that I am more likely to be run over by a bus. 

Nr to refuse to treat my teenage child on the grounds that he is more likely to die by suicide. Or by driving too fast.
To the average member of the public these figures are meaningless and the public presented with these facts showng tiny percentages ignore them. Many forums in popular media repeat the idea that it is all a lot of fuss about nothing. 

To convey the message that these statistics are important, we may need to illustrate numbers in human and visual terms.
Meaning how many deaths? And families and workers – does a percentage really matter? If we tell the public this means x deaths in ‘your street’ or ‘your children’s school’, or two primary school children in your school will lose a beloved granny, or two schools in your city will lose a teacher, they are more likely to understand the implications and  demand action and comply with suggestions and laws and instructions.

It would certainly put a blight on a wedding if a parent or grandparent died.

It would cause a major upheaval in a family if the grandparents doing babysitting and childminding were taken away so that the parents could not work.

Stay home. Stay safe.

Useful Websites

https://www.gov.sg/features/covid-19
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/covid-19-a-cautionary-tale-from-spore?
Facebool.trevorsharot

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, club organizer and speaker.
Toastmasters International Find a Club
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learncool.sg
Braddell Heights Advanced speakers club meets every Wednesday, currently on line.
Future Meetings include
Wednesday May 13th, lucky for us, as we have Thomas Chen running a workshop on Networking.
Contact President Angela Lansbury or VPE Faith. Then login to learncool.sg and wait to be admitted by the host.
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