03-24-2020, 06:38 AM
(03-22-2020, 10:28 PM)Warren Dew Wrote: There isn't any simple solution here. You either kill a bunch of old, rich people by letting the epidemic run its course, or you ruin the lives of a bunch of young, working class people by sacrificing the economy to stop the epidemic.
It's a choice that nobody can handle well, because there's no good solution. Personally, I think in the face of that choice, Pete would crumple like used toilet paper, because he doesn't seem like the kind of person who can deal with difficult choices.
The deaths of prominent people in other countries is no indication that CORVID-19 is a "rich person's disease". Poor people are vulnerable to it. There will be plenty of bad judgments. CORVID-19 differentiates itself from many other viral infections by its uncharacteristic lethality. If one gets treatment for a lesser infection and gets exposed to CORVID-19 then one's excessive caution can get one killed. If one confuses CORVID-19 with some slighter attack and does not get treatment, then one risks dying of it for getting treatment too late. That is the tough decision for a person.
What normally happens is that a viral attack on respiratory systems circulates, kills some people already on the brink of death, but after people get mild infections they are no longer vulnerable because they have developed immunity.
As for young adults -- a two-month lay-off is something from which they can recover. They have plenty of time in which to rebuild (so long as they stay healthy, of course. Figure that people will be quite stir-crazy after the quarantine ends. Figure that a quarantine is an opportunity to learn some marketable skills on line that make one more adept at what one already does. If one is laid off then one can make applications elsewhere. If you are using the time to play video games and watch replays o games of the 2019 Detroit Kittens baseball team, then you are a schmuck and a loser. How one responds to hardship is a genuine test of character as demonstrated by farm kids who went off to war and (unless killed or crippled) came back more competent and confident.
Nobody has a reasonable estimate of how many people this virus will kill and what the prognosis is for survivors. It may not be as reliably deadly as HIV/AIDS, but it is certainly easier to contract.
People can make plans for this disease should they contract it. What do they take to the hospital? The cell-phone, the laptop computer, headphones, writing materials, a change of clothes, an address book... if I am obliged to go to a hospital 150 miles away then it might be practical to drive.
I strongly suggest connecting to Project Gutenberg on the web (it is free, and it is a library containing practically all extant books in the public domain.
I hope that I am not sugar-coating this. You can make the best of a bad situation or you can make it worse.
I expect serious shortages and gouging once the economy comes back on line. Deaths could range in anything from the few thousands to several million... even at the worst the Black Death left plenty of economic opportunities in its wake for survivors and weakened the feudal dependency that crushed the soul out of medieval life. Lower rents and shorter commutes, anyone?
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.