"what if?" can absolutely be a useful frame. The flip side: what if... the common cold causes small amounts of permanent damage, or damage that doesn't show up

"what if?" can absolutely be a useful frame. The flip side: what if... the common cold causes small amounts of permanent damage, or damage that doesn't show up until much later in life? What if all viruses are this way, and preventing infection/bad infection in the first place is an enormous net benefit?