Quote Originally Posted by WeWonItAll(Most) View Post
If the reason Italy spiraled out of control is due to the healthcare system being overwhelmed, then I'd say Spain could already be getting to that point as well. Their critical care capacity is even smaller than Italy's

Interestingly, Germany's >65 population % is right behind Italy's (23% vs 21%), yet their mortality is still only at 0.4% this week. I don't know what measures Germany has taken besides pretty vigorous testing early on, but to me, that lends more support to critical care capacity and not overwhelming it being the key between a good response a bad response. Luckily for us, I assume that means things have to get much worse here than they did in Italy before it reaches that point for us, since we have 3x the capacity before we're overwhelmed. It would probably be more effective to look at critical care capacity per capita by state considering the size of the US, but a quick google search didn't yield anything for me.
Good post, I definitely believe the fatality rate is based on the quality of care patients receive. It's not just about hospital beds either. Doctors and nurses getting infected, ratio of patients to doctors/nurses, fatigue, etc.