> What is the UK doing different than Italy? They want to avoid a lock-down disrupting normal life. Meaning general restriction of any and all individual movem

> What is the UK doing different than Italy? They want to avoid a lock-down disrupting normal life. Meaning general restriction of any and all individual movement all together. The trouble is that life as we know it got cancelled in the past few weeks. And the harder society tries to cling to the idea of "business as usual", the worst things are going to get down the line. > Will they just let the old and weak die as part of their plan? In a nutshell: Yes. The idea of "herd immunity" is that if enough people are immune, the virus can't jump from host to host and people can't infect each other. Vaccination is essentially an artificial way of creating herd immunity without making people actually suffer the illness. Of course, we can't vaccinate, so the other scenario is people actually contracting the disease and getting sick. The stark consequences of the U.K. strategy are (a) an exponential increase in sick people who need healthcare (b) the implosion of an overran healthcare system and (c) many more people dying. Not just the old and weak, but literally anyone who requires healthcare (i.e. heart attacks, strokes, other illnesses, accidents,...). Countries such as Italy and Spain enforce a lock-down exactly BECAUSE they want to avoid healthcare systems from collapsing any further. Confining people at home literally slows the spread infections as there are far less opportunities to pass the virus from host to host. Decreasing the rate at which more people get sick buys time for the healthcare system to process those who are already sick. Down the road, people will still contract the disease, but less people will die including the weak and the old as resources will stay available to tend to those who really need them. Remember, when we talk about "old" and "weak" people, we are talking about someone else's family members and loved ones. If you want to show solidarity and at least do some kind of civic service towards your (local) community, then do this: * Work from home if you can / are allowed to. * Don't make unnecessary social calls. * Wash your hands regularly. * Don't touch your face. * Don't visit people at risk if you don't have to. * Keep a fair distance from other people (6 feet). * If you feel sick, or you're coughing: stay the f- at home. * Don't hoard and don't buy from the black market. * Keep calm and carry on. Society isn't helped if you're going to act like The End is Nigh.