[2006alum]

I want there to be a next generation that is successful and not impoverished.  And I'm willing, even eager to sacrifice to do it.  I'm old, I'm diabetic, I have heart failure and hypertension.  I touch every single box that the coronavirus looooves.  I figure I'll just explode when it inevitably takes me down.  And I'm more than fine with that, if it meant that we don't permanently ruin the economy so we can leave a decent world for future generations.  To me, that's the most conscientious, compassionate thing a society can do.

On the other hand, if I was a selfish, narcissistic prick that only cared about myself and literally thought the world ended with my death, I'd say screw the next generation and implement policies that are sure to ruin the country, but gives me a little extra time.

Like we're doing now.

This is a false dichotomy. If we did nothing to slow the virus, our healthcare system would be completely overrun, and with it, our economy, but with no easy path back because we'd have no healthcare system. If every hospital in the country is overrun, what do your sons do when their wives become pregnant? What if one of them develops appendicitis? Or falls off their bike and lacerates a kidney? Are you comfortable waiting two years to see a doctor to check in on your diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease? Do you have a two-year supply of insulin? 

"The cure can't be worse than the disease" presupposes some kind of 1:1 ratio of tradeoff between health and economic wellbeing, but the two are tied together. Already, our healthcare system is starting to creak:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/eugenegu/status/1245404476044767232?s=20[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/yangnyin/status/1245422569542397952?s=20[/tweet]

Unless we tell every person who develops moderate COVID-19 symptoms to take 20 ambien and see us in the next life, sacrificing granny is NOT an effective strategy for the rest of us, either.

[2006alum]

I want there to be a next generation that is successful and not impoverished.  And I'm willing, even eager to sacrifice to do it.  I'm old, I'm diabetic, I have heart failure and hypertension.  I touch every single box that the coronavirus looooves.  I figure I'll just explode when it inevitably takes me down.  And I'm more than fine with that, if it meant that we don't permanently ruin the economy so we can leave a decent world for future generations.  To me, that's the most conscientious, compassionate thing a society can do.

On the other hand, if I was a selfish, narcissistic prick that only cared about myself and literally thought the world ended with my death, I'd say screw the next generation and implement policies that are sure to ruin the country, but gives me a little extra time.

Like we're doing now.

This is a false dichotomy. If we did nothing to slow the virus, our healthcare system would be completely overrun, and with it, our economy, but with no easy path back because we'd have no healthcare system. If every hospital in the country is overrun, what do your sons do when their wives become pregnant? What if one of them develops appendicitis? Or falls off their bike and lacerates a kidney? Are you comfortable waiting two years to see a doctor to check in on your diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease? Do you have a two-year supply of insulin? 

"The cure can't be worse than the disease" presupposes some kind of 1:1 ratio of tradeoff between health and economic wellbeing, but the two are tied together. Already, our healthcare system is starting to creak:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/eugenegu/status/1245404476044767232?s=20[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/yangnyin/status/1245422569542397952?s=20[/tweet]

Unless we tell every person who develops moderate COVID-19 symptoms to take 20 ambien and see us in the next life, sacrificing granny is NOT an effective strategy for the rest of us, either.