There is a utilitarian argument for "letting it rip" - get it through the population quickly and start the recovery. However, I read some political analysis of such an approach last night (political, not medical) and the problem is this - people (quite rightly) would not accept seeing the death rate in the UK far exceed that of other countries, including Italy and Spain - you would be throwing at least a quarter of a million people in the bin for the sake of the economy. Now, a good proportion of those deaths would be amongst retired and vulnerable people, who in a strictly utilitarian sense, don't contribute anything to the economy - but they are also parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters - this is not a national struggle like a World War, people would see their loved ones being taken away and would not think "this is for the good of the economy".
I am certainly not advocating any such strategy, just trying to portray the logic of it.
Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum