Originally Posted by
ATC Watcher
I made myself exactly the same remark. Reminds me of these 1939 propaganda posters in Germany saying the weak and sick people in hospitals were costing too much money to the Empire...
I'd suggest that the point you are rather missing is that it is not a simple either/or question - it is plainly not a case of saving lives or saving the economy, in both situations people will die. We are already seeing more deaths from people who are afraid to go to hospital for other diseases, deaths from cancer treatment being delayed, mores suicides from loss of job or business etc etc.
In todays Telegraph Doctors in New York hospitals are saying that the lockdown must be lifted there immediately due to the negative effects it is already having on the population.
Peter Singer, a bioethics professor at Princeton, said officials need to think about the consequences other than in terms of deaths. “I think the consequences are horrific, in terms of unemployment in particular, which has been shown to have a very serious effect on well-being, and particularly for poorer people.
“Yes, people will die if we open up, but the consequences of not opening up are so severe that maybe we’ve got to do it anyway.” he told the New York Times.