Originally Posted by
Derfred
The Federal Government didn’t spend the money on saving lives.
The Federal Government spent the money on keeping the economy going, to keep people in jobs, and to help business survive.
Well, yes and no. You need to remember that the need to keep the economy going was largely driven by the public health decisions that drove closing the international border, the initial lockdown, restrictive practices such as social distancing and the like. They were all aimed at preserving public health (also known as 'saving lives').
But your point shouldn't be lost - any assessment of the efficacy and efficiency of Australia's approach needs to consider both the public health outcomes (deaths, hospitalisations, etc) AND the economic outcome (GDP, unemployment and the like). That economic component was what was missing from the simple dollars spent per lives saved analysis I offered last night.