For many people when they were young they were told by a parent, usually the mother, not to touch the hot stove. Not to eat dirt and the like. Namely parents told children what to look out for to avoid dangers. Don't touch the poison ivy, don't drink the bleach etc.
Namely we were educated by having "information: regarding what was a danger. Don't drink and drive and wear a seat belt started to reduce auto fatalities and even get a flu shot.
So where does this lead today. It has been nine months since I warned of a pandemic here. The best we get is wear a mask. But we now have tons of data. I know what towns have the highest infection rate and logically I should avoid them and anyone from there. But even better we have data on who is getting infected today. Namely demographic data. Government has managed to kill off the LTC population and thus the high mortality folks but infections continue. So what should Mom be warning us of today?
Demographics! Namely we should know who is being infected by demographic data. We should know if the largest number are 20-30 year olds, male, transit workers. Just a guess. If we knew then we could avoid them like poison ivy. This of course demands a high ongoing testing rate which we seem to have abandoned in New Jersey.
Lakewood is a classic example. A big burst, testing, then control. See it works. But we do not have access to this data. Governments deny us the list of "poisonous plants" or "deadly snakes" we should avoid. Humans are a very adaptive species, but only if there is some feedback loop.
Perhaps there is some sociological reason for denying the people this critical information. If so one wonders what it may be.
Just an update. If one looks at the NJ Dashboard the best one can say is that the most infected are Hispanic Females 30-49 years of age. But that is for September 24!
But if one looks at old adages such as "leaves of three let it be" one would not lie down in a poison ivy patch. In contrast if it were a hay pile perhaps one might consider, unless it were occupied by a rattle snake family or two. But the lesson is that if we have more detailed demographic information we can avoid infection and secondly and most importantly prevent it by education. There may be a social stigma but then again one should not blame the infected but learn the cause and correct it.
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