When it comes to summer vacations, beach trips are still a go, Frieden said. Social distancing is still necessary, though, he said.
We went hiking in the hills today. In a county with one recorded case of CV19. Groups very far apart and people stepped off the trail when others passed. And at 5000 feet, the UV will kill anything hanging in the air (including my skin). I have no doubt beaches could be doable, too, but as Tom Frieden points out, social distancing is still necessary. And that will mean something like numerical limits, not a free-for-all.
I understand that restless frustrated feeling, which makes people want to go crazy and lick a shopping cart handle. But to indulge the feeling is like indulging the impulse to pour used motor oil down a storm sewer - there's potential harm to others, and it may not be an 80 year old in a hospice, it may be someone with years left on the odometer. And when society validates that kind of risking, it's not promoting herd immunity, it's promoting culling the herd.
But.
What’s the Death toll of 30+ million(and growing) unemployed American workers, the stoppage of out-patient hospital visits for procedures affecting cancer treatments, heart disease surgeries, or the general reluctance of visiting the ER? Not to mention suicides and accidental overdoses due to despondency of failing to take care of your family.?
Or the overall effect of shutting down our schools, of turning our economy over to the government and dooming everyone to higher taxes as we run our currency printers 24/7?
Worse. By the end of the year, 8 percent of the world’s population — half a billion people — could be pushed into destitution, largely because of the wave of unemployment brought by virus lockdowns, the United Nations estimates.
We get a daily scorecard on Covid-19 deaths.
The real death toll will be the added ones from the lockdowns.
And it will take years to make it an official count.
I don't believe I have disagreed that lockdowns in developing countries have graver consequences than in rich ones. In countries where workers can get government checks, unemployment, rent grace periods, etc. I don't think we have good social science research on how bad that is or how boring days at home compare to contracting a serious illness at work and passing it to vulnerable family members. I was only agreeing with Tom Frieden that fresh air recreation, with social distancing, may be worth organizing in a safe social structure... and especially where you do have laid-off workers who need cheering up.
As for blowing bigger deficit craters and ensuring higher tax burdens in the future, you need to talk with your fearless leader, ca. 2017.
There are no panaceas, but there are rational risk assessments based on real numbers and not just vague reference to despair. I haven't talked to one person around here who isn't okay with being home, hardships notwithstanding, and prefer that to being forced to work with the public in risky settings. I don't doubt that someone in India might evaluate the balance of risk differently, where destitution is far more life threatening.
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