I don't know any 20-somethings who are locked down. Some are being careful and avoiding bars, some aren't. But none would say they're locked down.
I've responded to your suggestion multiple times that your plan is the de facto reality, as far as I can tell. Not through some government plan, but by people evaluating their own acceptable level of risk.
you have responded as such, but what we have now isn't remotely close to what i propose.
by "set free" the half of the population that is relatively immune, plus those at risk but insisting on rolling the dice anyway, i don't mean what we have now.
i mean no masks, no distancing, packed bars and stadiums and restaurants, full flights with no masks, life exactly as we knew it pre covid for those populations, and those populations only.
and covid parties are more than fine with me, but again, for those populations only.
with all who have already been bitten, we could achieve herd immunity among those populations, well over half the total population, within a few months i'll guess. (we could already be there by now if we'd taken this road as soon as we knew half the population was effectively immune, and who that population was).
as for the other universe, the "at risk" universe not feeling lucky, they get govt enabled temporary total lockdown for those few months.
they get sufficiently subsidized financially by the govt while in lockdown, (much cheaper than the current non plan).
those now on SS or disability will need less to minimal additional subsidies than those not.
govt mandates all essential services to accommodate them no contact, and at home when possible.
any essential needs that require contact, such as repairing a furnace or medical care, are performed as much as possible by individuals who have already been tested bitten and are no longer contagious, thus safe to be around, (which very quickly will be a large percent of the freed population).
those already tested infected and now safe can assist them in a myriad of other ways too.
deaths within the locked down population will quickly go to near zero.
deaths within the relatively immune by age freed population, will remain near zero.
most deaths will be those olders who choose to join the freed population anyway, but still way less than the current no plan plan will otherwise kill.
2-4 months from now, or sooner, the freed population should have achieved herd immunity i would think. (testing will let us know where we are on that at all times).
meanwhile virtually no one who has been locked down will be a carrier either, due to being locked down for X months, and isolated from those who could infect them.
at which point those still carrying the virus will be at a super low percent of the population, a percent currently only dreamed about.
at this point, those who have been in lock down should be able to relatively safely go out again, though they might want to be vigilant and not push their luck for another month or two or as long as they wish, to be sure it's relatively safe.
hopefully at this point daily, weekly, monthly, deaths and even infected will be down to a bare minimum, but with lots of testing still going on for added precaution.
meanwhile, all work on vaccines and treatments could be advancing in the meantime.
those youngers who wish or need to join the locked down group for whatever reason can.
and again, those olders who wish to join the "freed" group can, but don't expect the other freed individuals to alter their behavior to accommodate you, so do so knowing such going in.
those in the tweener age group can pick whichever universe they wish.
tweeners and youngers with kids in school who aren't comfortable being in the freed universe, their kids can school virtually for X months. (as opposed to X yrs under the current wait for a miracle plan).
a very imperfect plan i know, that will still have deaths.
just far far less imperfect than the current clusterfk no plan plan, and with hopefully only a small fraction of the deaths.
and with immediate return to normalcy for the freed universe once the logistics and financing are in place.
and much quicker return to normalcy for olders than the years away they are currently looking at under the current hope for a miracle plan.
and with the economy and small business being able to survive on the freed universe in large, plus what they get from the locked down universe in deliveries.
and again, once the logistics and financing are in place, the total lock down phase for olders should only be a few months tops, as i don't think it should take much longer than that for the freed population to reach herd immunity.
for all the whatabouts, while many no doubt valid, i still think it leaves far less whatabouts than any other plan i can think of, including the current no plan other than hope for a miracle plan.
anyone with a better idea, i'm more than open to.
but have a better idea if you're anti this one.
api.nationalgeographic.com
