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by bandushrew 2249 days ago
That analysis is a perfectly good 'model', but it makes a few interesting/weird choices and assumptions of its own.

"The true burden of the epidemic can be calculated by applying an factor of around 0.15 to the number of account for life years lost. 500 deaths becomes, 75 on an adjusted basis, and can be compared with the 350 lives lost on the roads each year" - He means, of course, the true economic burden, which is a specifically different thing.

Putting that aside (although it clearly reflects his economic bias), actually implementing his model assumes that we can request the public to maintain a variety of distinct contact levels accurately, Im not convinced that we could expect the public to do that effectively over time.

His model is also extremely dependent on accurate testing and contact tracing, which grows exponentially harder as we increase the level of allowable contact.

His model is fine as far as models go, but it definitely makes the assumption that things like level of contact and contact tracing are as easy to adjust and manipulate as his normal treasury numbers, and I personally believe that is a fallacy.