Yes, most employees are replaceable. No, the same is not true of people. My family and close friends cannot be replaced. Not quickly, not easily, not without

Yes, most employees are replaceable. No, the same is not true of people. My family and close friends cannot be replaced. Not quickly, not easily, not without lasting damage. Yes, there may be some economic benefits in the long term to "letting people die." No, there will definitely be severe short term shocks to the economy to following that strategy. 1-5% of the population dying (even when skewed towards particular demographics) means that almost everyone will know someone that's died, several someones that have ended up in ICU, several someones that have suffered badly, and several someones that just had nothing happen at all. If you ignore the second order effects of that ("I don't want to go to work because I don't want to end up in ICU like my buddy Dave"), the economic damage in the short term then becomes even more severe. The loss of confidence in the government becomes more severe. The willingness to return to the workforce reduces significantly.