[embee]

Lots of intriguing views and comments.

I still like to compare attitudes to Covid deaths and road deaths. Typically 5 people die on UK roads per day, and that's among the millions of everyday folk travelling out there. If the rate suddenly jumped to 50/day, who would say "Oh well, it's just something we'll have to learn to live with, we go out on the road and some people die even when they were doing nothing wrong."
I suspect not many proponents for the laissez faire approach, yet that's just what some are saying about Covid.
If there are reasonable measures which aren't really a hardship (distancing in shops, masks on transport etc) then why not do it, just like we wear seat belts and have speed limits. We still go about our daily business but take reasonable precautions.

There is also a conundrum in approach to treatment. If we say "Oh well, some folk will get Covid and die", then why bother to treat anyone who ends up in ICU? They are treated because we try to avoid people dying unnecessarily, and it's the decent thing to do. If we say it's worth trying to save someone's life in ICU, the why not say it's worth trying to avoid that person ending up in ICU in the first place? Prevention better than cure, and usually much cheaper.

I don't pretend to have answers. That doesn't mean I won't criticise what seem to be reckless or illogical steps, or more likely the inappropriate timing of actions.

Whatever we as a country (countries?) decide to do and act out, there is still the elephant in the room regarding how the rest of the planet will view us and want to interact (or not) with us. We could end up a 21st century "leper colony".