The fact is that lives are traded off against the economy and a whole host of other things all the time. Nearly 2000 people died in road traffic accidents in the UK last year. If all road vehicles were prevented from travelling over 20 mph, I am sure that those deaths would be reduced to close to zero. Yet nobody is calling for any such speed reduction. Society clearly considers a certain amount of road deaths acceptable in return for speed of travel.
Similarly, if income tax rates were raised by 10% and that money put into the health service, undoubtedly this would save lives. However, electorates clearly feel that the current amounts being proposed by political parties for health expenditure are satisfactory - there is no public clamour for any such massive increase in spending. Again, a trade off between money in the pocket and money spent on saving lives.
Now, I'm not saying when I think that the current anti-Covid measures ought to be relaxed. I'm merely saying that a balance needs to be found somewhere and that we find these balances all the time on all sorts of matters.
Originally Posted by: Lionel Hutz