Updated April 30th, 2020 at 08:57 IST
Elon Musk insists for freedom from lockdown amid COVID-19, gets schooled by doctor
Reacting to Musk, a Twitter user gave a count of deaths in New York, explaining why lockdown was important and how it would prove catastrophic going against it
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COVID-19 pandemic has taken the world hostage with the lockdown and stay at home protocol imposed in many countries across the globe. The US is the worst-hit country and its biggest city New York has recorded over 18,000 deaths. However, there are differing opinions about the confinement and restrictions that have been imposed across the world, especially in the US, with one lobby, led by President Trump, being seemingly bent on opening the country even as the toll keeps rising.
Technology entrepreneur Elon Musk has expressed his views against the lockdown imposed by US President Donald Trump in his latest tweet and has sparked a row of opposing opinions. Here is the tweet, which bears a stark resemblance to Trump's own outbursts:
FREE AMERICA NOW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
With some backing Musk against the lockdown, there were others who disapproved of his opinions for how dangerous they could prove with a few of them being verified users as well.
What's your plan Elon? How are you going to keep my hospital from being completely overrun? Are you sending nurses when ours get sick? Are you sending flowers to the dead? Paying for their kids' college? FREE AMERICA NOW is not a very intelligent plan from someone like you.
— Dr. Rob Davidson (@DrRobDavidson)
However, a verified Twitter user's rebutting explanation in favour of lockdown won all hearts. The Twitter user gave a fact-based justification taking the account of deaths in New York as a base and explaining why the lockdown was important and how catastrophic it would prove to go against it.
Hi Elon,
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu)
I'm not here to cancel or bully you. I just want to inform you and your audience why I believe stay-at-home orders are the right thing to do for the coronavirus pandemic. On April 16, around 5,000 people died from COVID19. Extrapolating that for a year is 1.8 million.
And most of those deaths were from NYC. If this was nationwide without a lockdown, it would be much higher than 5K/day. But even if it stayed at that number, 1.8 million dwarfs heart disease (647,000) and cancer (609,000), which are the number 1 and 2 causes of death in the US.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu)
The Twitter user explained how the death rate due to COVID-19 is much higher than the death rate due to heart diseases and Cancer put together, which usually topped the list of deaths prior to Coronavirus pandemic. The count of COVID-19 infected people in the US has crossed one million with the death toll nearing 61,000. New York alone has recorded 164,841 COVID-19 cases with 18,076 deaths due to the deadly virus. As the world grapples to find a vaccine for the deadly virus, social distancing and hygiene is essential in arresting the spread of the virus.
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Published April 30th, 2020 at 08:57 IST