[2006alum]

One would have to expect the naive CFR to decline in developed countries as testing becomes more widespread, the virus spreads among less vulnerable communities than nursing homes and hospitals (which were very often the first to be hit), and especially as knowledge of effective treatments and techniques improves. My impression is that one reason why we never had the ventilator demand issues that were forecasted is that physicians realized that prone positioning - rather than intubation - is a more effective technique. 

Now that we're well past the "flattening the curve" phase it's easy to forget that one thing that flattening the curve bought us was time to discover effective medical treatment techniques, not just "miracle cures" pushed by our Snakeoil Salesman President. Those kinds of best practices are not on their own game changers, but every single improvement adds up and whittles away the naive CFR.

[2006alum]

One would have to expect the naive CFR to decline in developed countries as testing becomes more widespread, the virus spreads among less vulnerable communities than nursing homes and hospitals (which were very often the first to be hit), and especially as knowledge of effective treatments and techniques improves. My impression is that one reason why we never had the ventilator demand issues that were forecasted is that physicians realized that prone positioning - rather than intubation - is a more effective technique. 

Now that we're well past the "flattening the curve" phase it's easy to forget that one thing that flattening the curve bought us was time to discover effective medical treatment techniques, not just "miracle cures" pushed by our Snakeoil Salesman President. Those kinds of best practices are not on their own game changers, but every single improvement adds up and whittles away the naive CFR.