重點: Mr. Trump’s timing is right because the American public is beginning to see that the economic harm from lockdowns is also a disaster. Twenty million jobless in four weeks and food lines are a human tragedy. The longer the lockdowns the more long-term damage there will be in lost human and physical capital—and the weaker the recovery. Americans want to defeat Covid-19, and they have shown they will sacrifice to do it, but they don’t want poverty to be the price they have to pay for victory. (4週內2000萬人失業是人類悲劇。封鎖時間越長則對人力資源與資本的長期傷害就越嚴重,且復原也越無力。美國當然願意為戰勝COVID-19犧牲,但絕不是以「落入貧窮」為代價)
重點: 1. 以近日史丹福大學在Santa Clara郡(恰好我也在此居住過兩年)研究發現實際受感染者的數量遠大於已知,可能佔該區總人口2.5%~4.5%之間,換算推估的受感染者應是目前確診數量的50~85倍。 然而,從好的一面看,不但感染數可能更接近流行性感冒,以這個角度看COVID-19的病死率可能也遠比目前推估的來得更低且更接近流感。 2. 作者問:「Yet if policy makers were aware from the outset that the Covid-19 death toll would be closer to that of seasonal flu than the millions of American deaths predicted by early models dependent on inputs that now look inaccurate, would they have risked tens of millions of jobs and livelihoods? (若執政者了解COVID-19的死亡率初期預估是錯誤的,則他們還願意以幾千萬失業與生計為代價執行現在的隔離政策嗎?)
a. 自殺人數與病死人數邏輯上不應該只是相比,而是要相加。這是說,即便高度管制下最後COVID-19在美國僅造成等同流感的病死數(約5.5萬人),但若因高度管制造成的經濟衰退自殺人數等同2008年,則每十萬人死亡人數相加後仍達16.88人,恰好約莫等於我假設的狀況一死亡人數。這意味著高度管制下死亡人數有可能等於什麼都不做。
b. 對照美國2017-2018年流感季,美國CDC估計有4500萬人感染了流感,81萬人住院,6.1萬人死亡。然而我們可以看到17~18年的失業率是下降。這意味著,單一傳染病很可能對失業率沒有影響。(見圖)
This is what I saw. Blistering heat. Folks in line since 7pm the night before. To get food. Hundreds of volunteers busting it to serve, so families could go home (probably to pass some out to their neighbors too) & get the nourishment they need.