Boy, talk about reading a lot into something that isn’t there. Never did I even hint at dismissing older folks as “about to die anyway”. Statistically they’re far more vulnerable, fragile, and susceptible to many things (falling, the flu, other accidents, heart disease, cancer... long list!). Covid is especially hard on that population group because of their fragility. That has nothing to do with dismissing their value or significance. You won’t find a more pro-life person than me.
And I’m wildly curious where you get any sort of data that would support the notion that an 80 year old male “on average” lives for 7 more years. Life expectancy for all males is 70.8.
“the notion that an 80 year old male “on average” lives for 7 more years”
Sounds about right to me. And a great number of the obits around here are people in their 90s these days.
If you were wildly curious, you would have found the answer already. Actuarial Life Tables use actual death statistics to find average lifespan. Here's an example:
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html