Ioannidis had [a similar opinion article][0] published last week.
It's worth reading [the rebuttal that followed][1] (as long as we're doing credentials: "Marc Lipsitch, D.Phil., is professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of Harvard’s Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics."):
It agrees that the basic lack of good information is a failing and also certainly creates risk. But we have seen at least twice now the outcomes of doing nothing or almost nothing:
> First, the number of severe cases — the product of these two unknowns — becomes fearsome in country after country if the infection is allowed to spread.
> So acting before the crisis hits — as was done in some Chinese cities outside Wuhan, and in some of the small towns in Northern Italy — is essential to prevent a health system overload.
There are clearly no truly good choices available right now.
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[0]:https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-a...
[1]:https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/18/we-know-enough-now-to-ac...
It's worth reading [the rebuttal that followed][1] (as long as we're doing credentials: "Marc Lipsitch, D.Phil., is professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of Harvard’s Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics."):
It agrees that the basic lack of good information is a failing and also certainly creates risk. But we have seen at least twice now the outcomes of doing nothing or almost nothing:
> First, the number of severe cases — the product of these two unknowns — becomes fearsome in country after country if the infection is allowed to spread.
> So acting before the crisis hits — as was done in some Chinese cities outside Wuhan, and in some of the small towns in Northern Italy — is essential to prevent a health system overload.
There are clearly no truly good choices available right now.
---
[0]:https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-a...
[1]:https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/18/we-know-enough-now-to-ac...