Politicians and their epidemiologists are damaging the US health care system and the US economy with their ill-conceived COVID-19 policies

The politicians and epidemiologists have no idea how much damage they are doing to the American People. America - open your eyes.

Which makes the most sense? Devoting enormous intensive medical resources to an elderly COVID-19 patient with a moderate probability of saving him so that he can enjoy a few more years of life or devoting fewer non-intensive medical resources to, say, a breast cancer patient who has a high probability of recovery so that she can enjoy many more years of life?

The epidemiologists, focused on minimizing deaths from COVID-19, are oblivious to this tradeoff. They are destroying the health care system with their narrow view. They are not evaluating all the tradeoffs; hence do not realize that their recommended courses of action inferior. They have not evaluated properly their impact on the US health care system, much less on the economy. They fail even to attempt an evaluation of the increased deaths they will cause by shutting down the non-COVID-19 health care system and the economy.

When the health care system is operating at capacity, the choice of what patients to treat should be made on the basis of something like years of useful life saved per unit of resources required to save them, not on the basis of COVID-19 patients come first.

Decisions about what treatments should be allowed must be made not just on the results of Randomized Clinical Trials, but also on less formal knowledge about results. I'm sorry Dr. Fauci, but what you call anecdotal counts as evidence, too. You should be in favor of clinical use of drugs like hydroxychloroquine, instead of lording it over the rest of us with your knowledge and focus on RCTs. Haven’t you ever heard of Bayes Theorem? It puts your classical focus on RCTs in perspective – relying on them alone reflects ignorance, not excellence.

Maggie's disclosure, below, of the change in her medical plan is a typical example of what is wrong with the current focus on COVID-19 at the expense of all else. It's time for people to insist that the world is not only about COVID-19.

Now, for those who can’t think without an example, here is Maggie Morales.

In mid January, I was diagnosed with Her2+ breast cancer. Today, I complete the first phase of my chemotherapy treatment. My surgery has been postponed until sometime in late July or August. In two weeks, I I'll begin the second phase of chemo. Rather than weekly treatment, I will receive a "dose dense" treatment every 3 weeks (due to new Covid19 procedures). Without my family and friends I could not move through this. Thank you Dee, Donna, Bonnie and Bonnie, Joei, Sanjana, Elizabeth, Lorraine, Amy and your significant others for your support and encouragement. A huge thank you to Samantha for being an endless source of information and constantly checking in on me. One day I will pay it forward. And to the many others who have kept me in their thoughts and prayers and provided support. Be safe and gentle to one another during these confusing and trying times. Virtual hugs to all.

Good for you Maggie, but shame on the Fauci’s of the world for not expanding their view.