Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
Here's the basic problem we're dealing with.
I think abown83 said that, as a country, we're actually better off if we just get it overwith, infect as many as quickly as possible, get herd immunity, and yes, a bunch of people are going to die. However, the percentage of people dead is still relatively low compared to the country as a whole, so it can continue functioning without these people, especially with most being old/sick already, and thus a burden upon society anyway.
Harsh but sadly true. Unfortunately, we can't just take that solution because human beings aren't numbers on a balance sheet. You're not going to go along with this if it's you or your mom who ends up in the ground, just so the country can be better long term. Thus, we could not use such a solution unless we were of hive mind, which human beings aren't.
I mention this because there are some realities which both sides don't want to face.
The left doesn't want to face the reality that the economy is going to be completely fucked if we stay down for much longer, and that will also bring its own set of problems (including death and despair). At the same time, there is no game-changer which would allow us them to give a date when it's safe to open up. Therefore, they have to lie to everyone and claim that we can contact trace and test our way out of this mess.
The right doesn't want to face the reality that we are realistically looking at 300k-1m people dying from this, and that opening things up will put us closer to the higher end of that number, because these people get deprived of possible advances (treatments/vaccines) down the road. So they lie about the likely death rate and death toll, and keep trying to compare it (incorrectly) to the seasonal flu or swine flu.
And while I've always hated the King Solomon middle-of-the-road approach, as it tends to be a cowardly copout in most cases, the best solution really does lie somewhere in the middle.
We need to reopen up, but we need to do it intelligently. Testing can play a part in this, but more to discern whether or not the current phase of reopening has come with acceptable loss (or hopefully minimal loss), and this must be done about 3 weeks after each phase begins.
That's the smart way. Unfortunately, neither side is interested in being smart about this.