> a large proportion of the deaths were in care homes
… which is no different from other countries. I seem to recall articles comparing the numbers, and the proportions seem similar in many places.
> Also, what will count is not the first few months but the entire lifetime of this pandemic.
Considering only the improvements in treatments made between March and now, it seems fairly evident that a strategy of front-loading deaths was ill-considered. Even if all countries eventually end up with the same percentage of the population infected (which is far from certain), it's likely that those with a late wave will have considerably fewer deaths.
Yes, because they're now the ones who really needed mechanical respiration in the first place. The earlier "putting everyone with a <95% blood oxygen level on ventilator" strategy harmed people by damaging healthy lungs via overoxygenation, and causing breathing dependence that doctors found difficult/impossible to wean from and all sorts of other complications, such as deep vein thrombosis. (This is what happened to Nick Cordero.)
Yes, but presumably (1) that harm affects everybody put on ventilators and (2) those who are now put on ventilators are the most desperate cases, so better ventilator triage as such does not seem to explain the improvement in ventilated death rates to me (even though it may explain improvement in overall death rates).
… which is no different from other countries. I seem to recall articles comparing the numbers, and the proportions seem similar in many places.
> Also, what will count is not the first few months but the entire lifetime of this pandemic.
Considering only the improvements in treatments made between March and now, it seems fairly evident that a strategy of front-loading deaths was ill-considered. Even if all countries eventually end up with the same percentage of the population infected (which is far from certain), it's likely that those with a late wave will have considerably fewer deaths.