> but on this topic I much prefer the freedom of movement that I get to enjoy in the U.S.
Well, that didn't take long. Or are you assuming that's not a side?
In my social circles, it very much is. My understanding of facts leads me to believe COVID-19 is a great enough "plague" to warrant lockdown measures.
People who share your opinion often write these responses out as "extremely risk-averse", but many disease experts vehemently disagree.
To put that in context, let's consider your next statement:
> Many people die for various reasons.
In the United States, we keep track generally of how people die. The top three causes of death[1] in 2018 were heart disease at 655,381, cancer at 599,274, and accidents at 167,127.
So far, COVID-19 has surpassed accidents at 229,238 deaths[2].
This isn't about preventing death no matter the cost. It's about taking reasonable measures to slow what has become the third leading cause of death for Americans.
How many deaths were caused by the lockdown? I know we cant easily measure this but the number is surely substantial and by not keeping this in mind we are implicitly saying the number is zero, which leads us to make bad decisions.
OK...
> but on this topic I much prefer the freedom of movement that I get to enjoy in the U.S.
Well, that didn't take long. Or are you assuming that's not a side?
In my social circles, it very much is. My understanding of facts leads me to believe COVID-19 is a great enough "plague" to warrant lockdown measures.
People who share your opinion often write these responses out as "extremely risk-averse", but many disease experts vehemently disagree.
To put that in context, let's consider your next statement:
> Many people die for various reasons.
In the United States, we keep track generally of how people die. The top three causes of death[1] in 2018 were heart disease at 655,381, cancer at 599,274, and accidents at 167,127.
So far, COVID-19 has surpassed accidents at 229,238 deaths[2].
This isn't about preventing death no matter the cost. It's about taking reasonable measures to slow what has become the third leading cause of death for Americans.
[1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm [2] https://covidtracking.com/data/national