Originally Posted by
GloballyServiced
Certainly worse than the flu, but I bet if we could have told everyone in March 2020 that the IFR of people under 60 was less than a percent, it would have been a hard sell to enter into a lockdown/restricted lifestyle that looks like it will extend 2-5 years.
I think the problem with this emphasis solely on the fatality rate is that you are overlooking other things -- notably the fact that this is a communicable disease, and it spreads easily from one person to another through respiratory aerosols/droplets. Thus, in spite of concerted efforts to reduce the spread -- primarily through masking and distancing (including remote work & learning) -- more than 43 million known cases in the U.S. have occurred since the beginning of the pandemic, with more than 700,000 deaths.
It isn't just "one percent" (or less), it's that percent of a huge number (tens of millions) infected in the U.S. (The other big killers, heart disease and cancer, are, for the most part, not communicable.)
Are you seriously suggesting that efforts to reduce the spread of the disease should never have been undertaken, and/or should be abandoned? Given the number of vaccine hesitant/refusers that currently exist in the U.S., that doesn't seem prudent.