Keeping score

Here is how to set up an honest COVID Dashboard.

Regular readers will remember me pointing out, time and time again, the problems with the Alberta COVID-19 dashboard. It is manipulative and it is meant to tell a story without context (see below).

Well. Here is the context.

• Since Jan 1, 2021, the risk of a partially vaccinated individual testing positive for the virus was 4.91% per year (25,895 / 526,892.86 life years lived).

• Since Jan 1, 2021, the risk of a fully vaccinated or boosted individual testing positive for the virus was 6.02% per year (99,191 / 1,647,524.13 life years lived)

• Since Jan 1, 2021, the risk of an unvaccinated individual testing positive for the virus was 8.24% per year (195975 / 2,378,828.66 life years lived)

• Since Jan 1, 2021, the risk of an unvaccinated individual being hospitalized with the virus was 0.40% per year (9628 / 2,378,828.66 life years lived)

• Since Jan 1, 2021, the risk of a partially vaccinated individual being hospitalized with the virus was 0.24% per year (1253 /526,892.86 life years lived)

• Since Jan 1, 2021, the risk of a fully vaccinated or boosted individual being hospitalized with the virus was 0.13% per year (2155 / 1,647,524.13 life years lived)

• Since Jan 1, 2021, the risk of an unvaccinated individual dying with the virus was 0.05% per year (1215 / 2,378,828.66 life years lived)

• Since Jan 1, 2021, the risk of a partially vaccinated individual dying with the virus was 0.05% per year (252 / 526,892.86 life years lived)

• Since Jan 1, 2021, the risk of a fully vaccinated or boosted individual dying with the virus was 0.02% per year (369 / 1,647,524.13 life years lived)

This is using Alberta’s data without combining the vaccinated with the unvaccinated and measuring the different groups by how many days they actually spent in their respective groups. This looks ok for the vaccinated, but does it cover the negative externalities from the vaccine like adverse events and potentially increased transmission? I would say no, but a vaccine enthusiast may disagree. However, we should agree that this is not worth tearing the Charter of Rights apart, not to mention the social fabric of Canada.

Now, tell me, is your countrymens’ freedom and the risk of totalitarianism worth such a tiny reduction in transmission, hospitalization, and death? For context, the reduction in death is about the same proportionally as the amount of Americans that died fighting for other people’s freedom in the Second World War. Considering the average age of deaths due to the virus in Alberta was 78 years old, the life years lost are not remotely comparable.

I’ll ask once more: What is freedom worth?