As others have indicated here, people are dying and will be starving from the shutdown. Les mentioned that in Canada, the shutdown of elective surgery alone will kill more Canadians than the virus did. So shutting down an economy isn't even just an economic issue. It's a life and death issue as well. The entire world is re-starting their economies. They're not waiting for the virus to be gone. They're all taking chances because they understand that starvation kills people too. I suppose you're right and the whole world is wrong. Well, you're not in charge. Time to move on. You seem stuck in the past.
This was actually not an officially published number, merely my own estimate, based on 100,000 postponed elective surgeries.The total number of postponed surgeries will be actually higher by the time the hospitals restart the operating rooms. In the meantime, I researched it more, and right in the first report I stumbled upon, I found that my guess was very close. (2767 average annual deaths due to delays, based on 44,273 additional deaths over 16 year period, compared with 2700 Covid-19 deaths as of April 27, 2020). It was an older study, estimating the number of Canadian lives that may have been lost to increases in wait times between 1993 and 2009. The summary report (see the link below) is clear, quite comprehensive and well written.
In this period during wait times for medically necessary elective care lengthened considerably. The study found that over that 16-year period, increases in wait times for medically necessary elective treatment may be associated with 44,273 additional female deaths (with a 95% confidence interval from 25,456 to 63,090). This represents approximately 2.5% of total female deaths during the period or 1.2% of total mortality (male and female) during the period.
This estimated increase in the Canadian mortality rate associated with waiting for medical treatment was likely unnecessary and is the result of a health-policy regime that imposes longer wait times on Canadians than are found in the universal-access healthcare systems of other developed nations. Understanding the association between wait times for medical care and death at the population level is critical if we are to more fully understand the consequences of the lengthy delays Canadians endure when accessing medically necessary care.
Waiting for medically necessary care is not a benign process and can have important consequences both for patients and for those who care for and rely upon them. Delayed access to medical care may subject patients to increased pain, suffering, and mental anguish. Waiting for health care can also have broader economic consequences such as increased absenteeism, reduced productivity, and reduced ability to work for the individual waiting as well as for family members and friends who are concerned for them or may be called to assist them with activities of daily living. Waiting may also lead to poorer outcomes from care, if not a requirement for more complex treatments, as a result of deterioration in the patients’ condition while they wait for treatment. Such deterioration may also result in permanent disability.
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/effect-of-wait-times-on-mortality-in-canada.pdfWait times for health care in Canada have lengthened considerably over the past two decades. Across 12 major medical specialties, the estimated typical wait time has risen from 9.3 weeks in 1993 to 18.2 weeks in 2013. It is quite possible, that the current stoppage of the elective surgeries in Canada will result in much longer wait times and more deaths than in the aforementioned study.
