i think the argument would be well this is 10x more deadly than the flu at least
which leads to an interesting question
if 1-2.5% is worth shutting the economy down, how about 0.9%? What about 0.8%? When do we figure its okay?
of course this will likely be taken as I am for stopping the whole social distancing thing right now and opening everything up, which is not the case. I'm just curious as to what our tolerance level is...there's gotta be a number. 0.1% isn't it, since that's the flu and we do not halt our economy for that.
There is also the argument of medical capacity. The quicker the cases spike up and a burden is put on the hospital, the higher the death rate will go.
Then there is also the question of why, despite knowing tons of resp. diseases continue to come out of China, did we not stockpile ventilators and masks just for this?
Fun questions...there are also dark questions. Like "What will be the impact on Social security and medicare if we did let 2% of the population over 60 die"? Don't answer that one.
This is exactly my approach. We all have a tipping point to a varying extent. As the economy continues to suffer, more and more people will start to feel that it's not worth sacrificing any more.
I have a good job and I work in a sect deemed critical by the federal government. So I'm not investing too much of my feelings on the situation. I'm just observing and complying with the policies and requests of me.