Remember 250,000 to 500,000 die every year from the normal flu..and the world does not shut down.
And how many will die world wide this year from COVID19? So far it’s around 183,000, but the numbers of deaths in countries like India and the Philippines and Indonesia are patently under-reported or under-detected. Google “Spanish Flu deaths”.
But the over-arching point you make is in my view a valid one: Like everything else, it’s just a cost/benefit equation. The response depends on the value placed on a life - or perhaps 50,000,000 lives. If a life is considered by a society to be ‘priceless’ then that society cannot function: it’s entire treasure would be consumed in the impossible endeavour of ensuring that nobody dies.
As to the broader lessons learned, much has been said earlier. Anyone who wants to pursue a career as a commercial pilot should plan on at least a couple of periods of involuntary unemployment. (Not the kind of gig I’d pursue.). This is a consequence of a broader lesson I’ve learned: Any business that requires payment for services before they are provided or payment for goods before title passes to the buyer is usually the equivalent of a person who lives from payday to payday. All it takes is a change in a bunch of variables over which the business/person has little-to-no control and either the whole thing collapses or they start down the slippery slope of ever-increasing debt that usually ends in tears.