I refuse to believe this notion that people who want to go back to work don't give a damn about death rates or those standing next to them. We talk numbers because if you're going to craft policy it needs to be based in numbers. If we're not willing to admit that people will in fact die not just to this, but a myriad of possibilities then there is no limit to what we shutdown and ban in society. It's not cold, selfish or detached - it's pragmatic. Eventually we're going to run into an inflection point where the cure is worse than the disease. Where that point is is up for debate, but what I won't do is demonize those for trying to find it.
Refuse to believe what you want but people are by and large stupid and selfish. I would love to go back to work and resume a normal life. I'm sure my house value, that I want to sell has taken a big hit, my 401K is in the toilet and my savings are being depleted as we speak. Am I willing to bet my life and my loved ones lives on it? Not a chance in hell. There is too much unknown about this virus to make anyone with any common sense say, hold on, let's just wait a minute until we understand this better. Sadly common sense is so uncommon these days it should be deemed a super power.
Where do you see the end game then? At what point do we pull back on the restrictions? Do we hunker down until the last vestiges of the disease have disappeared? We'll never make it. All it takes is for a single vector out of hundreds of millions of people to start another flare up. We're going to have to open the economy back up in measured intervals while keeping tabs on the case rates. Yes, this involves risk and this is just a cold reality. We need to have these discussions to figure out where that point is. Painting those attempting to find it with a broad brush as selfish serves only to shutdown the discussions we need to be having.
...and I'll say this again...someone wanting to go back to work is not inherently selfish and uncaring. You might be OK with a savings to draw upon, but not everyone is in that position. Besides, quarantine measures right now are being drawn as a one-size-fits-all policy for entire states. What needs to be done in NYC does not need to be done in upstate NY. This in itself is where a lot of the friction is coming from. We may very well get to a point where it makes more sense to keep those in high risk groups quarantined and send those that aren't back to work.
