Originally Posted by
CenterField
You're welcome.
I feel that this thread should be split into two questions.
1) Was the lockdown wrong? I'd reply to this one with an emphatic "NO!" You guys need to think of the dire consequences if we had allowed everybody to contract this illness at about the same time, overwhelming the health care system. It would have been a full-blown disaster. When you think that this illness is just a problem for the elderly (well, it is not, actually, but that's another discussion), at least think of the collateral damage: if we had allowed the peak to happen in a way that would surpass hospital capacity, every other condition that needs hospital assistance - including a child's severe asthma attack, or a teenager's trauma from a car crash - would suffer from lack of hospital beds and equipment, and lack of healthcare workers, all tied up with a flood of COVID-19 patients.
Also, the protocols have evolved so every time gained in delaying infections did help with saving lives. For example, at first, we thought that intubation and invasive ventilation early was the way to go. We've realized by now that the prolonged invasive ventilation that COVID-19 requires actually damages the lungs and kills more people than it helps so now we're delaying ventilation until the last moment. We learned that low Vit D makes a difference so we're encouraging supplementation. We learned that hydroxychloroquine makes COVID-19 patients particularly prone to cardiac arrhytmias unlike lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients. We learned that anticoagulants and steroids need to be given early to avoid the blood clots and damage from an overactive immune system.
The bottom line is, you're better off catching COVID-19 now than 2 months ago because we know more about how to treat it. So, the lockdown did help.
2) Is the lockdown wrong, as in, its long continuation? To that, I'd say yes; we just can't take so much economic impact, and also people are desperate, suicide is up, many have lost their paychecks, people with other serious conditions are being neglected because hospitals cancelled elective procedures, and so forth. It's time to open up.
But can't we open up prudently? Can't we at least avoid getting too close to other people, and wear masks? These are easy, cheap, and prudent measures that don't hurt anybody, and it is regretful that they've been made into a political statement.
At this point I care little for politics. I care for saving the lives of fellow Americans and for putting paychecks into the pockets of fellow Americans, again. If to do this we need to go to the ridiculously small inconvenience of wearing a facemask and keeping some distance between us and the next person, I don't see what's the downside.