I work with many people in Ohio. We are in Florida. They have closed schools up there for three weeks. .......... Aren't the young the least vulnerable.....
schools are basically petri dishes / illness exchange factories .
All these closings / worldwide : are being done to slow the rate of transmission and prevent local hospitals from becoming overwhelmed .
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when I google - critical care / ICU hospital beds - I get a USA number of
35 adult beds per 100,000 . ( average )-
[ neonatal units etc also exist- which are not structured for adult use ]
If Ohio ( pop. 11.6 million) is statistically at this average - there are about
4000 such beds .
If 10 % of Ohio gets Covid 19 and half of 1 % ( 0.05 %) of those need an adult
critical care bed = 8000 beds .
Many of those beds are currently occupied.
If you flatten and extend the curve of increase - you can keep turning those beds over for new patients .
It is a bit like a timeshare with 200 units and 52 weeks = 10,400 week interval owners . BUT if everyone expects to have a holiday week .....
However - the negative consequences of not getting a critical care bed ( and a ventilator) when needed are much worse .
Italy is the CURRENT poster child .NO jurisdiction in the world wants to be the next example .
cancelling schools / extending March break is one component in the big picture .