Originally posted by @Karen F.:
It's actually an interesting point. It is felt that the tremendous death rate in Europe from the Black Plague in the 1300s led to the Rennaissance and the end of feudalism, because it cleaned out so many people, including the landowners. Sort of like a social/population forest fire, that allows for new growth.
If the coronavirus cannot be stopped by social distancing, then it could very well take most of the people in their 90s and 80s, and a big chunk of those in their 70s too, along with some younger ones. Think of the effects on society. There will be a transfer of wealth from the elderly to their children, plus a great decrease of draw on social security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It's awful to say, but it would relieve a lot of the pressure on social security.
Hi Dr. Karen!
First, I have to say that you had given us an incredible insight from 2 months ago!
I'm glad you mentioned that we may in fact not be able to contain the Virus for political and other reasons.
I wanted to get your opinion on something I have been thinking about for a while.
I believe we have all seen the videos of the Gen Z partying during Spring Break, especially in Florida and Texas. Their attitude can be summed up when one of them was asked if they cared about getting the Coronavirus as "If I get Corona I get Corona... but at the end of the day it won't stop me from Partying."
This is actually more political. Gen Z are voting for Bernie. Bernie believes that young folks are not doing better than their parents and their parents are not doing better than their parents.
Gen Z has taken up the thoughts that the Boomer Generation is absolutely selfish and has already put into motion the destruction of the world with their denial of Climate issues, hence Greta Thunberg and the phrase "OK Boomer."
Gen Z also, by being so young, has an attitude we all had when we were young.... invincible, even to a new Virus.
Last week, we saw the closure of Florida beaches to stop the mostly Gen Z from partying.
HOWEVER, after thinking about it more, if those that were partying for Spring Break passed the virus around and then you stopped their partying and told them to go home all across the US...........
I think you get the point.... this only increased the spread of the Virus and probably exponentially.
This might not sit well with Medical professionals, but if they would have just allowed the partying to go on for the next two weeks and kept everyone there, treating any who had gotten sick, they could have allowed the Virus to peeter out via the concept of Herd Immunity.
Combined this with the fact that we lacked any kind of testing, both for a proper diagnosis AND to see if anyone had recovered developed immunity, as well as lack of protective equipment (N95 masks, gloves, gowns, etc.)... there was no way to prevent transmission and it made our Healthcare professional who are on the front line extremely vulnerable and demoralized.
Unless I'm missing something, sending the kids home to every single State in all the corners of America right after they started partying and passing the virus around is one of the most illogical reaction that could have possibly has been done.
To me.... it's already too late that a full lockdown is just going to make it far worse as more people will lose their jobs, over months and years, even when the Virus has finally be reduced to a normal flu like situation, the ones who could not recover economically will wind up either homeless or sick due to the stress they have encounter not only from the Virus but on the brink of financial disaster.
We already know that reports show that the average American has only $400 left from their monthly pay check to survive on after their expenses. They are just one missing paycheck away from homelessness.
It won't be surprising to me that a total lockdown will eventually cause all kinds of future unintended consequences such as the rise of homelessness and suicide to the level of the opiod epidemic.
What is worse is that the class that will be hurt most will be the Middle Class. The rich are well off and have savings enough to go through a protracted lockdown. The Poor has Government Support. But the Middle Class? People like the readers of BiggerPockets? Well.... they will be devastated, just like one of my tenants who happened to open up her own restaurant only to be forced to close because she could not have customers come in. The Middle Class will pay a BIG price and many of them will swell the ranks of the lower classes below middle class. This payment won't happen right away, it will unfold over years.
Given that we are spending more than $1 Trillion to save America from the Virus... let's say there were 5 million Vulnerable people for whatever the reasons (over 60, respiratory complications, cancer, etc.), doing the math of $1 Trillion / 5 Million = $200k per Vulnerable person.
If America supported the 5 Million potentially Vulnerable people to completely self-isolate for say a MONTH while the rest of the population goes through Herd Immunity, it almost seems to me that this is far use of the money.
We also need to go back to the Gen Z. Their attitude, for the most part, will continue to spread the Virus. So the efforts towards social distancing has already been fruitless and will continue to do so with out ENORMOUS effort.
ANYWAY... I can go on and on trying to look at the illogical way America has been trying to solve this problem when there seems to be much more logical ways to do it.
If we face the truth that Gen Z really don't care about the Boomer Generation in general, I think, just maybe, the path we took would have been different than the one we have already chosen.
Just my opinion! Sorry about the long posting!