Virus-Avoidance Strategies, such as Social Distancing, Lockdowns, and Shutdowns,
lead to our behavior acting the same as our annual Winter cold-weather 'lockdowns',
where we stay indoors with the windows shut, breathe the same air, and interact with others less.
This behavior leads to a soaring level of deadliness every single cold season, every single year,
which then immediately plummets once we 'reopen' in the Spring.
This chart compares our annual cold season Pneumonia and Influenza (or, P&I) deaths against the United States Energy Information Administration's
Heating Degree Days data. Heating Degree Days show the extent to which the United States experienced cold temperatures (below 60F), which
will show when heaters are on, windows are shut, and to a large extent, when people are staying indoors because it is too cold to
go outside. Note that our P&I deaths go up right in tandem with our temperatures dropping:
One interpretation of this could be that cold temperatures cause the spike in deadliness, but it is not just temperature. This chart
shows California, Florida, and Minnesota's P&I deaths:
Note that all three states have the same pattern, despite California and Florida's Winter
temperatures being equal to Minnesota's Spring and Fall lows. To Californians and Floridians,
this is still cold enough to have people in all those states in Winter
'lockdown' behavior.
The next chart compares Hawaii's P&I deaths against the overall United States. Hawaii's record low temperatures
in the most populated areas by the coast are around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. There is typically no reason to have as long or strong a cold
weather 'lockdown', and that behavior difference shows in the much less pronounced seasonal spikes - their patterns are much more random:
These same changes in the deadliness of airborne disease, driven by our behavior, can now be seen around just about any chart of deadliness
for any location affected
by Covid-19, with specific reactions in the numbers around specific dates that lockdown orders were given or lifted.
Florida is a great example of a state where deadliness had reached an all-time low around April 1st, when a lockdown order was
given. Their Covid-19 deadliness then went up, until the orders were lifted by June 2nd, and the deadliness immediately plummeted,
just as it does in every year's Winter 'lockdown' and Spring 're-opening':
Regardless of the reason, when we 'lock down', stay indoors, and avoid interacting with each other, we see the same pattern of an increase in
deadliness of airborne disease.
An explanation of the cause of this phenomenon is viral monoculture versus diversity.
Virus-Avoidance Strategies, such as Social Distancing, Lockdowns, and Shutdowns, just like our Winter-to-Spring lockdowns,
cause a greater deadliness of
airborne disease, and therefore, more deaths.
