“And how many of those, with no underlying health issues and under 70 years old, are in ICU or have died from COVID-19?
I am not mocking you, I am genuinely curious.”
No worries, no offense taken. None I know will die. Although asthma is a factor in two cases. But they have, in turn, infected many, many more. And we know at least 1% of that number WILL die. Perhaps more.
I don’t think we know that at all. It isn’t possible to know that without knowing the number of people actually infected, recovered, and dead. The whole problem here is that the only number we have even some confidence in, is how many have died who were positive for COVID-19. That’s the numerator in the CFR equation, but the denominator - that is, the number of people who have been infected with COVID-19, many of whom didn’t even know they had it, or never sought medical attention because it was so unexceptional in its effects/symptoms (much less that were even tested for it and found to be positive), that the denominator being used to arrive at a CFR of 1%, or 2%, or 3.4% (I’ve seen numbers all over the place), could be off by a factor of 10, or 100, or more.
That’s the point here: we don’t really KNOW very much, yet look at the panic, chaos, and destruction being caused by wild speculation.
What we do know, according to a piece put out by (of all places, CNN), is that just about EVERY death in the US so far has been someone over 70, and/or someone with a significant underlying health issue. So it seems to me that, rather than locking down the entire country, rather than forcing EVERYONE to be isolated, the smarter (and more economically and constitutionally appropriate) response would be to ask those at risk to self-quarantine. Not mandate, not force, but ask/recommend.
Don’t misunderstand me - my mother is 85 years old, and has had breathing issues for close to 40 years (she has had multiple throat surgeries, and restricted breathing for almost as long as I can remember), so I am avoiding any contact with her that might put her at risk. But, that is no reason that I or anyone else who ISNT at risk, should have their lives and livelihoods destroyed. And it is most certainly not a reason to submit to unconstitutional revocation of our fundamental rights. That is what we’re seeing, and it is a very dangerous, slippery slope that the power-mad politicians and bureaucrats should never, ever, be allowed to start down, for any reason.