Collateral damage from COVID-19: Isolation prevented deaths, but it will also cost more lives in the long run

The COVID-19 lockdown has prevented many deaths, but its repercussions will also cost lives in the longer term, a complex equation that includes a determining ethical variable.

 

"It's a very difficult calculation" that "the best epidemiologists and social scientists try to solve," says Sarah Burgard, a sociologist at the University of Michigan.

 

"Among the difficulties, there is the evaluation of the number of deaths from COVID-19, the number of deaths attributable to chaos and the consequences of the crisis (in the health system), compared to the deaths attributable to the economic consequences of confinement. and its impact on individuals and companies," he continues.

 

In a study published in 2000, the American economist Christopher Ruhm asked this question: "Are recessions good for your health?"