Data-based COVID-19 plan to recover community health: Allow healthy people, under the age of 60 to resume work with precautions now! Apply data. Unshackle economy. Strengthen the overall community:
Colorado has one of the healthiest populations among US states. Our plans can be different from other states based on state-level data on COVID-19. The current carpet-bombing approach is more harmful than useful.
The data (Source: State of CO). Total deaths: 193 on April 8, 2020.
Colorado Deaths and Percentage by Age:
1-19 = 0 (Zero)
20-29 = 1 (0.5%)
30-39 = 2 (1%)
40-49 = 7 (4%)
50-59 = 12 (6%)
60-69 = 18 (10%)
70 + = 150 (78%)
Suggested Tiers:
Tier I – 78% of dead
– Quarantine the 70+ years old and protect them.
– Mandatory isolation. All ages with respiratory issues.
– Supply food and support in their homes.
– Impose 14 day quarantine on all incoming visitors from out of state.
Tier II – 10% of dead
– Age 60-69 Require safe practices (Masks, gloves). Essential travel only.
Tier III – 11% of dead
– Age 30-59 Require safe practices, allow return to work.
Tier IV – 0.05% of dead
– Age 1-29 Limit interaction with older or sick people but otherwise let them exercise, work, and stay strong.
Why consider a shift away from the mass movement and gathering restrictions?
Our current approach to contain COVID19 is like the cancer treatments of old. The patient died often because of the strong dose of radiation and treatment that the body could not endure. The treatment killed the body before the disease could. Or it is like carpet bombing. Everyone in the bombing zone died. Today we can do better. Precision drug delivery isolates and attacks tumors. Precision surgery removes targeted tissue. Precision guided munitions take out specific sites.
We are blocking commerce, choking social contact, and creating anxiety for all of Colorado. All of this hardship is not necessary now that we have data that reveal who is most and least vulnerable to the disease. Most at risk: old people with underlying health issues and all age people with respiratory conditions. Further, 90% of those who get the infection don’t need hospitalization. Young people, according to data, are showing resilience against it.
Unshackling people will help all. The nation has issued $2 Trillion in new stimulus help. Most of it will be siphoned by the middle agents who are chartered to distribute it. We can ill afford it. What reaches the citizens will not be enough to hold them in good stead because the carpet-bombed lands will be too damaged to plant afresh or to repair what’s been irreparably burned and broken: the business losses, lost employees, broken finances. The cost of blanket restrictions is unnecessary and excessive.
Request
This is not a political statement. It is a citizen appeal. The media have lost integrity in protecting and promoting their owners’ interests while pinning the citizens down in the center of their crossfire. This is the start of the proposal to let our people return to full productivity. Help improve it, refine it, share it, or trim it with an eye towards positivity so that the right authorities can consider it in whole or part to refine their approach. The Governor, Jared Polis has done a great job, but in a crisis, even his great team can have tunnel vision, or be in the “shoot the closest problem” first mode.
About me:
My life’s about positivity. I wrote a book about reaching our potential: Find Your Everest before someone chooses it for you. It provokes readers to find their own reasons and resolve to advance in life. My talks uplift prisoners, students, and veterans, and I speak at conventions to light the spark of inspiration. To bring positivity to our community, I co-host a radio show, Positive People on our community radio station, KGNU in Boulder, CO. Occasionally, I take on mentoring as service or assignment. More about me at www.rajrawat.com.