… But it’s possible that the Black Death was actually mostly pneumonic plague rather than bubonic (same bacterium but in the lungs), in which case I think those first two questions would have had “yes” rather than “no” answers and the checklist comes out looking better.
Thanks for doing this, I think it’s a great point.
I might consider altering the “airborne” requirement and include “insect-based transmission” or something like that (in which case I’m not sure what to do about malaria, which I’m fairly sure would then hit a 16⁄16 yet not be causing stock market crashes, probably because it’s a long standing and regular problem.
The other issue is length of the illness for severe patients. The ambiguous wording in the original questionnaire doesn’t make this clear, but this is intended as the length of hospitalization for patients who don’t die, as a way to look at strain on healthcare facilities. I’m not sure how long plague lasts in patients who don’t die from it.
In any case, these will be some important points to consider for my next iteration, and also point out the important issue of long-standing diseases with fairly stable annual fatalities.
… But it’s possible that the Black Death was actually mostly pneumonic plague rather than bubonic (same bacterium but in the lungs), in which case I think those first two questions would have had “yes” rather than “no” answers and the checklist comes out looking better.
Thanks for doing this, I think it’s a great point.
I might consider altering the “airborne” requirement and include “insect-based transmission” or something like that (in which case I’m not sure what to do about malaria, which I’m fairly sure would then hit a 16⁄16 yet not be causing stock market crashes, probably because it’s a long standing and regular problem.
The other issue is length of the illness for severe patients. The ambiguous wording in the original questionnaire doesn’t make this clear, but this is intended as the length of hospitalization for patients who don’t die, as a way to look at strain on healthcare facilities. I’m not sure how long plague lasts in patients who don’t die from it.
In any case, these will be some important points to consider for my next iteration, and also point out the important issue of long-standing diseases with fairly stable annual fatalities.
Thanks for bringing it up.