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April 3, 2020 - 7:00am
What if it’s all an over-reaction? What if it’s not much worse than a bad year for seasonal flu? What if the statistics are blurring the distinction between people who have died from Covid-19 and those who have died with it?
As for Italy, could it be that the media is generalising from the worst-hit communities to the whole country?
But if it’s all over-hyped then how do we explain the deaths of so many Italian doctors? News reports from, for example, CNN and Sky News, quote differing figures — but that’s because the toll keeps on rising. As, far as I can tell, the latest numbers come from this page on the website of the FNOMCeO — a federation of doctors’ organisations. It’s a “list of doctors who died during the Covid-19 epidemic” — and it is regularly updated.
As of 10am on the 5th April, there were 77 names on the list. I can’t imagine how doctors and other medical staff in the UK must feel looking at what their Italian counterparts are going through.
As always with Covid-19, age is an important risk factor. Take a look at the chart above that was tweeted out by Merryn Somerset Webb of the FT and MoneyWeek; for different countries, it shows the share of doctors who are 55 years or older — and thus more vulnerable to the virus.
Italy is at the high end of the scale, with over half its doctors in this age group — and the UK right at the opposite end with the smallest share of older doctors.
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SubscribeAgree entirely.