From: Mike Percy
Hartsville
Recently, when I called my friend in Melbourne, Australia to wish him a Happy New Year, he complained to me that Australia’s COVID-19 lockdown rules were far too restrictive.
I asked him how many COVID-19 deaths Australia had suffered, and he replied "about 900."
I was surprised at how low that number was, so I checked up on it later. The actual number was 909 deaths. Also, their death rate has dramatically slowed, with zero deaths in January, one death in December and one death in November.
It looks like they have the pandemic under control.
I told him that we in Indiana had experienced more than 9,000 COVID-19 deaths so far, and that America has experienced over 400,000 deaths and it is rising rapidly.
Now I know Australia has a much lower population than we do. They have 25 million verses 335 million. Taking the population difference out of the comparison shows that Indiana’s COVID death rate is roughly 1 in 730 residents so far, the USA’s COVID death rate is 1 in 801 residents and getting worse, and Australia’s COVID death rate is 1 in 28,000 residents and stable.
Countries around the world are struggling to find the balance between the inconvenience of personal restrictions versus the possibility of death. The U.S. has taken the position that a high death rate is more acceptable than a lockdown and other personal restrictions.
Have we struck the right balance?
