Maybe you should read more closely. There is a column for 2020 medians just after the column for 2018 medians and the ranking is for the 2020 figures, not 2018.
It is kind of funny how the people with the most information don’t seem to be as worried as the masses. Look at the G7, Hancock, Cummings, the scientist who influenced the first Uk lockdown. Look at the fact that the Uk will let 2500 football bigwigs into the uk without quarantine for a football match. They look at the info, enforce restrictions and then do whatever they want.
Some scientists are saying that trying to achieve ‘zero COVID’ is an impossible dream, thus probably a very irresponsible endeavor.
They also claim these attempts are a huge waste of money, time and resources, as well as devastating to the economy and to general/ overall public health.
It’s very much NOT the current fad and never has been.
Only a few countries worldwide could achieve it successfully.
But it seems it’s not really possible with the new variants and with vaccination being available this strategy can shift hugely.
But Delta variant should be kept at bay for as long as possible until vax levels are up.
Unfortunately, it’s not going to work the way you hope, for two very obvious reasons.
People of breeding age aren’t affected by COVID.
People who are affected by COVID are past breeding age.
The more likely outcome is that people cowering in the corner are going to die of stress-related illness (or will be too terrified of getting within two meters of any potential breeding partner), and the people blissfully getting on with life with carry on spreading their mediocre genes.
Or as our forefathers might have observed: audentes Fortuna iuvat.
On the plus side, these rising levels of pandemic-induced fear, anxiety, stress, depression will definitely see prescriptions for the treatment of mental illness increase markedly.
Ka-ching!
A side note: Here’s a Lancet Psychiatry study which stated: “We also showed that a previous psychiatric illness is independently associated with an increased risk of being diagnosed with COVID-19.”
These statements aren’t true. You continually conflate low numbers with 0.
But anyway, the good news is there’s long COVID. Let the fat, lazy young(er) anti-vaxxers spend the rest of their lives gasping for breath when they walk up a flight of stairs and trying to get an erection.
Well there were some reports that Viagra might be a COVID treatment but I’m sure the tough guys who see taking a vaccine as a threat to their immune system’s ego won’t be eager to take the little blue pill either.
Somewhat like people who insist that NZ and Aus have achieved zero COVID via lockdowns
Anyway, to a close approximation those statements are true. 95% of the younger population have not been affected in any way at all by COVID. 80%+ of those who died were past breeding age.
It’s probably true that those who lurk in their basements and live on pizza are likely to be those most affected by long COVID. OTOH those are precisely the people who (a) are less likely to make a contribution to the gene pool anyway and (b) have already chosen to be weeded out, one way or another. People who are healthy and well-adjusted are less likely (a) to want to be vaxxed and (b) to play the game.
So, in her own quiet way, Nature probably is getting things right.
Interesting. If you look at the places in the US where rates of metabolic disease are lowest and incomes and education are highest, the vax rates are higher.
Not sure if you’ve ever visited Mississippi, for example, but you’ll be surprised to learn that it’s either the or one of the fattest, poorest and least educated states in the US.
You’re imposing your own values upon Nature. Evolution doesn’t select for high incomes and education: it selects for fecundity. It’s quite clear from the general tone of COVID hysteria that the unlettered classes are those most likely to reject the whole narrative, including vaccination, while the over-educated are the most likely to comply. So to that extent I agree that your observation is valid.
However, as I’ve pointed out on several occasions, vaccination doesn’t actually reduce anybody’s chance of dying to a significant degree, because COVID is simply not a common cause of death for anybody except the old and the sick. Someone of breeding age is therefore being “protected” from something that’s about as likely to remove you from the gene pool as a drug overdose (in fact drug overdoses were about three times more common among the under-50s compared to COVID deaths).
People who have serious metabolic diseases invariably have reproductive issues also: PCOS, impotence, etc. They’re also less likely to find a partner prepared to reproduce with them. It goes with the territory. Since getting vaxxed against COVID doesn’t alter that fact, it doesn’t improve their chances of reproductive success.
In short, vaccination doesn’t alter anyone’s chance of reproduction by any measurable amount.
When deaths do occur, they will occur disproportionately among the overweight, the unhealthy, and the unvaxxed. From a purely human perspective, they will be disproportionately “punished”. But this will have little impact on the selection pressures at work.