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The older generation is not one homegeneous group. There are a lot of impoverished older generation people. No cash, no house or no liquidity, tiny pension if

The older generation is not one homegeneous group. There are a lot of impoverished older generation people. No cash, no house or no liquidity, tiny pension if that. Those people are seriously at risk, and there is nothing they could have done for younger people along the lines you have described. Do we treat the impoverished old like their lives don't matter as much, let them die because they happen to be in the same arbitrary statistical grouping as other, unrelated old people you feel could have sacrificed more? Couldn't you come up with a fairer statistical grouping for "could have sacrificed more" at least, e.g. the rich? The younger generation is not a homogeneous group either. Among them are a lot of vulnerable young. People with respiratory problems, reduced lung function, among many other conditions, or lacking physical or mental capacity to look after themselves. Also every young person who needs hospital care for things like dialysis, when hospitals are unable to provide it. Do we just not care about the physically vulnerable young either? The lockdown is about protecting an extremely large number of vulnerable or unlucky people of all kinds. It's that simple. Some of those are children, some young, more middle-aged, and most old, although we are currently not sure how the statistics pan out for middle-aged and below when hospitals are severely overrun.

logicchains 7y ago
>Do we treat the impoverished old like their lives don't matter as much, let them die because they happen to be in the same arbitrary statistical grouping as other, unrelated old people you feel could have sacrificed more? Something used in public policy is Quality Adjusted Life Years. An 80 years has a much smaller expected lifespan than a 10 year old, so something that reduces the 80 year old's expected lifespan by e.g. 2 years could be compared to the effect that poverty or environmental damage has on the 70+ expected years of the 10 year old's life. >Some of those are children, some young, more middle-aged, and most old, although we are currently not sure how the statistics pan out for middle-aged and below when hospitals are severely overrun. We have this from the Wuhan numbers, where hospital beds were completely insufficient at least for the first month.

logicchains 7y ago

>Do we treat the impoverished old like their lives don't matter as much, let them die because they happen to be in the same arbitrary statistical grouping as other, unrelated old people you feel could have sacrificed more? Something used in public policy is Quality Adjusted Life Years. An 80 years has a much smaller expected lifespan than a 10 year old, so something that reduces the 80 year old's expected lifespan by e.g. 2 years could be compared to the effect that poverty or environmental damage has on the 70+ expected years of the 10 year old's life. >Some of those are children, some young, more middle-aged, and most old, although we are currently not sure how the statistics pan out for middle-aged and below when hospitals are severely overrun. We have this from the Wuhan numbers, where hospital beds were completely insufficient at least for the first month.