Dr. Oz: Reopening Schools "May Only Cost Us Two to Three Percent in Terms of Total Mortality"

[guillaumeb]

From the article:

“We need our mojo back. Let’s start with things that are really critical to the nation where we think we might be able to open without getting into a lot of trouble,” he said. “I tell you, schools are a very appetizing opportunity. I just saw a nice piece in The Lancer arguing that the opening of schools may only cost us two to three percent in terms of total mortality. Any life is a life lost, but to get every child back in to a school where they’re safely being educated, being fed and making the most out of their lives with the theoretical risk on the backside, might be a trade-off some folks may consider.”

To read/see more:

https://www.politicususa.com/2020/04/16/dr-oz-reopening-schools-may-only-cost-us-two-to-three-percent-in-terms-of-total-mortality.html

First, Dr. Oz, the term "may only cost us..." is an assumption.

Second, do these schoolchildren have parents, and grandparents, and relatives with chronic conditions that might make them more susceptible? This man is speaking like a lunatic.

[Jake Stern]

1. Thanks Oprah

for inflicting this quack on us.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. What an idiot. What happened to this guy? At one time, I actually listened to him but NOW?

What a certifiable idiot w/ an even worse quote 'we need our mojo back' ...

If we get our 'mojo' back, I hope that it's without 'dr. oz'! Worthless (worse than worthless) for even voicing the acceptable losses of children at any percentage amount (or for that matter, any age range is NOT acceptable).

[ProfessorGAC]

4. As I Said Earlier...

...and got agreement; what happened to "First, do no harm." 7-10 million dead seems like doing harm.

[uponit7771]

3. "schools are a very appetizing opportunity."... who says this crap in this context ?!!?

[guillaumeb]

5. An attention seeking idiot.

He should go into practice with Ben Carson.

[RussBLib]

6. if you are going there...

...then it's cool as long as most of them are Trumpers.

[guillaumeb]

7. But they live among us all.

This man is an idiot.

[world wide wally]

8. There were about 900 kids in the Middle School where I taught.

This would mean that we could expect about 18 -27 of them to die in one school year.
Who the fuck is this acceptable to besides vampires?

I hope they never become officers in the armed forces if they are this cavalier with children's lives.

[guillaumeb]

9. Oz assumes that this will not affect him.

The rest of us do not really matter to people like him. Many times, a crisis reveals who we really are.

[Igel]

10. He's working off a Lancet report.

It showed up in the NYT last week: https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/04/06/world/asia/06reuters-health-coronavirus-schools.html .

While that's Reuters, the reporter was talking about pre-publication access to ttps://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30105-X/fulltext .


If we eliminate everything with "may" and "could" in it, we'd be hard-put to say much about anything. Esp. if things are modeled. The usual trick is that "may" and "could" mean "does" and "has" when we want it to, and are meaningless buzzing sounds when it's "may" or "could" something contrary to us. It's a bad practice, but it's widely if not wildly approved.

Even Cuomo's "30,000 ventilators" was based on hard numbers and solid facts, he said, among which he explicitly included "modeling." See what he did there? "May" = "must".

[guillaumeb]

11. Agreed.

All of these modal verbs indicate only possibility. Anytime a main verb is modified by a modal, the result is a guess.

This will work, versus this may work.