The Covid-19 pandemic is already the worst humanitarian and economic crisis since the 2nd World War. However, the United Nations is now warning of multiple famines of biblical proportions, particularly in nations already suffering from war, famine and climate catastrophes (e.g., Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Haiti, Venezuela).
The World Food Program Director, David Beasley, said that even before the pandemic, over 800 million people were regularly going to bed hungry, while 135 million were suffering "crisis" level hunger. Their program feeds roughly 100 million people daily, 30 million of whom would die if they couldn't be reached. But this is exactly what the covid-19 pandemic is doing: making it harder to reach people in need and harder to get food through the supply chain. Their analysis shows that 300,000 of those 30 million people will start dying every single day.
This is only taking into account those who were already at risk of starvation. As countries lock down and supply chains get disrupted, it places even more people at risk, including in wealthy countries like the United States. We are already seeing this with the miles long lines at food banks.
Opening Economies Will Lead to Worse Famine
The idiot-leaders of the world's nations who claim the cure is worse than the disease, who assert that they will get our economies running again, our jobs back, our stores and restaurants open again, food in our bellies, by relaxing or ending their social distancing programs, are only going to make the problem worse. Social distancing clearly works. We saw it in China, South Korea, Taiwan. We're seeing it now in California, where the per capita infection and mortality rates are among the lowest in the nation, and where the infection rates are flattening in nearly every county in the state.
Yet, if we reopen cities and states too soon, we will likely see a second wave of infections and deaths that is far worse than what we're currently experiencing. Without any mitigation at all, we could see deaths in the millions, just in the U.S. Health experts are already warning of a second and much worse wave in the fall if we open things up too soon. We may start to see this in the coming weeks in places like Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, where they have already started to reopen their economies. And as we approach the next flu season, hospitals will be overwhelmed even more quickly than they are now, as they contend with pneumonia and severe respiratory distress from both Influenza and Covid-19 patients.
But what about the economy? Won't those regions, like California, that continue to lock-down, suffer the worst long-term economic consequences? Probably not. Data from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, which killed 50-100 million people world wide, shows that cities with the most aggressive social distancing programs NOT ONLY saved the most lives, BUT ALSO recovered the quickest economically. And the reason should be obvious: fewer sick and dead people means more healthy, able-bodied workers once it's safe to come back to work. In contrast, in an area where the pandemic is sickening large numbers of people, the economy shuts down anyway due to lack of healthy workers and consumers, AND it takes longer to recover because so many people are sick or dead.
So, whether they care more about human life or their respective stock portfolios, the world's leaders need to look at the long game: Maintaining aggressive social distancing policies will save both. Prematurely reopening economies, as they are currently doing, will backfire and result in far more deaths and far worse economic outcomes that will last much longer.
The World Food Program Director, David Beasley, said that even before the pandemic, over 800 million people were regularly going to bed hungry, while 135 million were suffering "crisis" level hunger. Their program feeds roughly 100 million people daily, 30 million of whom would die if they couldn't be reached. But this is exactly what the covid-19 pandemic is doing: making it harder to reach people in need and harder to get food through the supply chain. Their analysis shows that 300,000 of those 30 million people will start dying every single day.
This is only taking into account those who were already at risk of starvation. As countries lock down and supply chains get disrupted, it places even more people at risk, including in wealthy countries like the United States. We are already seeing this with the miles long lines at food banks.
Opening Economies Will Lead to Worse Famine
The idiot-leaders of the world's nations who claim the cure is worse than the disease, who assert that they will get our economies running again, our jobs back, our stores and restaurants open again, food in our bellies, by relaxing or ending their social distancing programs, are only going to make the problem worse. Social distancing clearly works. We saw it in China, South Korea, Taiwan. We're seeing it now in California, where the per capita infection and mortality rates are among the lowest in the nation, and where the infection rates are flattening in nearly every county in the state.
Yet, if we reopen cities and states too soon, we will likely see a second wave of infections and deaths that is far worse than what we're currently experiencing. Without any mitigation at all, we could see deaths in the millions, just in the U.S. Health experts are already warning of a second and much worse wave in the fall if we open things up too soon. We may start to see this in the coming weeks in places like Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, where they have already started to reopen their economies. And as we approach the next flu season, hospitals will be overwhelmed even more quickly than they are now, as they contend with pneumonia and severe respiratory distress from both Influenza and Covid-19 patients.
But what about the economy? Won't those regions, like California, that continue to lock-down, suffer the worst long-term economic consequences? Probably not. Data from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, which killed 50-100 million people world wide, shows that cities with the most aggressive social distancing programs NOT ONLY saved the most lives, BUT ALSO recovered the quickest economically. And the reason should be obvious: fewer sick and dead people means more healthy, able-bodied workers once it's safe to come back to work. In contrast, in an area where the pandemic is sickening large numbers of people, the economy shuts down anyway due to lack of healthy workers and consumers, AND it takes longer to recover because so many people are sick or dead.
So, whether they care more about human life or their respective stock portfolios, the world's leaders need to look at the long game: Maintaining aggressive social distancing policies will save both. Prematurely reopening economies, as they are currently doing, will backfire and result in far more deaths and far worse economic outcomes that will last much longer.
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