Interesting to read the opinions of both sides of this discussion. Including the "red herring" arguments from each prospective. I think is is unreasonable to paint the USA with a broad brush of COVID death and devastation everywhere...just like I do in Ontario where my county has a infection rate of 0.37% while GTA and Ottawa have numbers sky rocketing. Only comparison rally is how draconian or not some states and provinces have reacted. So you can guess that I am not in favor of the shelter in place lock down plan. The devastation this causes is un-measurable, mostly ignored. This does not mean in anyway that I am not concerned about the death rates nor unsympathetic of lost love ones. And never occurred to me that wanting more "normal freedoms" would be somehow offensive to those who served in WWII. My "big picture" just happens to be something different than others. No hidden agenda, on my end.
We all "want" more normal freedoms. But I do object when people are presenting data in a less-than-truthful manner to try and minimize the current situation, especially trying to compare it to the flu, or selectively excluding data to make it fit their argument better. As someone trained as an economist, that is a no-no!!
My reference to the two world wars was a comment on the fact that so many people today seem to be whining about being restricted in what they can do for awhile. The concept of self-sacrifice for the greater good of society seems to be lost on them. It all seems to be about "me". During both world wars people had no vacations, were away from their families, suffered rationing and restrictions on movement for several years. There was no video conferencing, phone connections or email.
We have only been at this for about seven months, so I find this type of attitude very disappointing. We are better than this. You talk about freedoms being restricted. The "freedoms" of those who have died are permanently restricted! I would rather give up some of my freedoms in the short term to ensure more people do not have their freedoms taken away forever. You can agree or disagree. You still fortunately have that freedom.
We now at least deal with infections more selectively, because we have better learned to manage and treat Covid-19 until a viable vaccine is available. That's a good thing, IMO, but it is not a justification for returning everything back to a pre-Covid "normal". Based on your comments, I assume your area is relatively open and less restricted, unlike the red zones of the GTA and Ottawa, which are more locked down. But I don't know what county it refers to and the infection rate number by itself is meaningless.
Can I assume that the 0.37% rate is the cumulative positive test (or case) rate? If so, it is less than the provincial average of 0.46%, although that provincial average is obviously skewed by the large populations of the GTA and Ottawa. The case positive rate to-date for the City of Toronto is double that at 0.90%.
That is why it is a red zone and needs tighter restrictions. One size does not fit all, is something we have learned in the last few months. It is also harder to control the spread of the virus in more densely populated areas, like major cities. We see that lesson in places like Toronto, NYC and Europe. It could still be controlled even better, but would likely require draconian controls, closer to what we have seen in places like China, South Korea and Singapore. I'm not sure our society could handle that.
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