Thread by @balajis

The analogy of a "health outage" to a "power outage" is interesting.

We know that our society is premised on access to electricity. And what fails if the power goes out.

But our society is also indirectly premised on access to health. So, what fails if the health goes out?

https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1256787358973747200

That's how the term public health arose. Health as a public good. Like water, roads, power, internet.

Something you take for granted to have a functioning society.

The 2020 economy isn't prepared for a protracted "health outage", anymore than it has a huge stockpile of candles.

Health outages in the form of persistent infectious disease invalidate the premises underpinning:

- retail
- travel
- hotels
- restaurants
- bars
- concerts
- sharing economy
- large crowds of any kind

Just like a power outage, health is needed for these sectors to function.

This also suggests that you can't just bull through it.

A restaurant wouldn't be able to serve too many customers in the middle of a power outage.

Similarly, they can't serve too many customers in the middle of a health outage.

Need to fix or mitigate the health outage first.

Also suggests another analogy.

The best way to restore power is at the societal level. Get the power plant back online.

But if the state fails, you get a generator. Mitigate the issue locally.

So, a Snow Crash Strategy. Amazon builds its own green zone.
zdnet.com/article/amazon…