In Peru, for example, the crude mortality rate (CMR), the number of covid deaths per million people, is 939. So, if you are near a random person in a park or a restaurant, the probability that you will contract covid is 25%. Suppose, however, that a trusted authority announces that the risk of contracting covid is greater in a restaurant than in a park. By this argument, if the authorities had announced that restaurants were safer than parks, then parks would in time have become the riskier place. Recognizing these kinds of connections creates scope for policy interventions that can containthe virus without crushing the economy.

Source: Mint September 20, 2020 15:11 UTC