I hear this a lot: “it only kills old people” or “it only has a 1.5% death rate.” Many of these statements are followed by the suggestion that we should just let Covid run its course so we can be out of this situation sooner.

We still barely understand Covid. No public health official with an ounce of ethics and concern for their career is going to be in favor of letting a poorly understood virus just rip through entire communities. The death rate is only one part of the equation. As this article points out, scientists are now concerned about the growing number of cases in which severe symptoms stick around or even develop long after infection. When compared to the cold or flu.

We also just recently learned that antibodies only stick around for a few months.

There are reasons that public health officials are being so cautious. It’s not just to be “draconian” for the fun of it.