This time I just want to share a story and a couple of observations. The story is from Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. If you know him, you will probably know I would rarely if ever agree with him, but this morning he made some good points. The article regards Sweden and the unique approach they have taken to Coronavirus. Basically, it has been business as usual. Full article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/opinion/coronavirus-sweden.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
The idea here is that they will let those that get it, get it. They are building “herd immunity” with this process. In contrast the US and most other countries are making everyone isolate. With that strategy some, if not most people will be reluctant to go out unless there is a vaccine or cure.
Does having the virus guarantee immunity? There are some who think having the virus does not guarantee immunity, but most think it will. “Since the first cases were described in China in December, there has not been a cut-and-dried case of someone infected twice.” This comes from an article from MIT on Monday. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/27/1000569/how-long-are-people-immune-to-covid-19/
Is the virus dangerous for children? We know our children are way safer than us. How safe? An article from CNBC has said that 3 children have died from Covid 19. The author states that as fact, but later in the same article he quotes the CDC as saying, “Three deaths were reported during this time period, though they are suspected of having COVID-19, public officials are still working to confirm whether that was the likely cause of the deaths.” As with many cases they find out there was an unknown health problem in these children. So there no absolute proof that even one person under 18 has died. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/06/cdc-says-three-kids-have-died-from-suspected-coronavirus-in-us-as-some-children-get-severely-sick.html
I mentioned earlier that 144 kids had died from Flu in 2018. The CDC actually says that 266 children between 0-4 died that year, and 211 kids 5-17 died for a total of 477. (I was citing another source)
So, we keep our children out of school for a virus that has killed 0-3 kids but let them run free with 477 deaths? This really shows the lack of logic (stupidity if you like) that is being exercised by our government in “saving us.” President Trump is getting killed (of course) by the media for being too lax in his approach. My complaint about him would be that he doesn’t appear on TV with these facts in hand and announce that our children are going back to school.
Let our kids play! Let them be kids!
In my next blog I will (surprise!) talk about investing topics and explain why I have remained silent.
See you soon,
Craig