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Comment by Eric_WVGG | Hacker News Reader

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Eric_WVGG

I find it useful and illuminating to just come up with some common large spaces and make a few estimates…

- remember the last time you were at the movies? Three people dropped dead during your screening of Avengers.

- two people dying per subway car on your morning rush hour commute into the city

- seven of the kids in your child’s high school graduating class die. he probably knew at least a couple by name.

… but the points this author makes about problems the survivors face even more striking, so, yeah.

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I don't think your death rate analogies match the data. Here's the current day by day COVID death rates going back to Feb 1st.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

I was trying to make the point is that “1%” doesn’t sound like a lot, but is actually a huge number when you’re dealing with a commodity as supposedly important as human lives.

There are certainly all kinds of nuances and unknowns to the survival (and partially-survived) rates. Those idiots sayin “only 1% of blah blah” are the ones I take issue with.

Only about 1% of the people dying from covid are under 35. That's the big monkey wrench. If it was kids dying, I think the perception would be very different. There's other factors even more difficult to discuss than age.

The state is powerless to shape policy in a way that adequately fits the risk due to Western culture's focus on individual rights. It's up to us to shape our behavior. Are we adult enough to have that kind of conversation? I am doubtful.

Spot on.

Maybe this isn't an extremely mature question and is kind of a "gotcha!" question, but which one of your older relatives would you be willing to sacrifice for this?

Because if this is what we are talking about, then that question has to be thought of. It's might be easier when it's just "old people", but not when it actually affects your life

I explicitly supported protecting the high risk populations when I said it's up to us to shape our behaviors.

Another comparison I like to make - it's in the same ballpark as going on a Space Shuttle mission (2/135 = 1.5% crashed). Would you want to send your loved ones on a Space Shuttle ride (minus the yay, going to space thing)?

And that's not accounting for the massive side effects, or the fact that the fatality risk is much higher for vulnerable populations.

FWIW, massive side effects and increased fatality risks for vulnerable populations are also true of going on a Space Shuttle mission :(.

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