First: what shutdown?
"Based on the expected remaining lifetimes of these COVID-19 patients, and given that 40 percent of deaths are in nursing homes, the disease has been responsible for 800,000 lost years of life so far. "
Lol. The author should show his work. 2 years of life lost per COVID-19 death??? Most plausible estimates (and there are multiple estimates now) put average years of life lost per COVID-19 death at about 10-11 years per death. And I think we can all agree this is MUCH more plausible, given the age profile of the COVID-19 victims. (Note the date of the article was May 25th, so their multiplier was...who knows what...Dr. Scott "Herd Immunity" Atlas didn't show his work here. Maybe 8 years?)
Anyway, we're up to 4 million life-years lost due to COVID-19 now. And who knows how many more due to neglected medical care due to the pandemic (excess deaths look like they will likely be nearly 500k for 2020).
We should stop people from getting COVID, so we don't have to keep losing so many productive years of life. Also that would mean we could keep everything open, so we don't have a shutdown. It also means we don't have overwhelmed hospitals, and reduced OR hours (see above), so people can receive elective and essential care which improves quality of life and longevity. This is not a difficult concept. Eradicate the virus, and move on. It's not like the virus has any say in the matter. The virus is not "going to virus," as the COVIDiots like to say.
I have been postponing an appointment to have a surgeon look at my shoulder for a possible SLAP tear repair, which is causing me pain, because it is not worth the risk to me or my family. This is a minor inconvenience to me, with resultant continuous pain, but imagine for people with more serious issues... We need to get rid of coronavirus! We should try!
