Dr. Birx, says 2.2 million could die from Corona if we screw this up as a nation, best case scenario is 200K, do these numbers warrant the fear being

@Frank52 For her, 2.2M is a worse case scenario, that doesn't match the rhetoric coming from the media and politicians.

@Roadsterrider Well,what number is worth my beach party? I know you're not really that callous, but that what it boils down to...my temporary loss of freedom to socialise, against the risks of spreading a virus than can kill.

@Frank52 No, I am not that callous, and I work from home so I am still getting paid, but there are those who aren't. There are businesses that are also going to be fatalities of corona. They aren't going to get better, they will leave people out of work because in a panic to do something, the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater. With a large number of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, some will lose their homes. There are going to be consequences to the economy that will be felt long after the corona virus controlled.

@Roadsterrider worse case scenario if we do not take necessary precautionary measures.

If we stop now that many will die. Possibly more. Are you truly this daft or do you just like to play devils advocate?

@Roadsterrider You're absolutely right - there will be consequences. So how does human life continue as it should when then economic system it's relied on (both in China and the Western democracies) has not been able to support them in their hour of need?

@JaggedLittlePill No devils advocate here, just an opinion that there is more hype than there is threat. Five months into this and there are 750,000 cases world wide, not quite the firestorm we were being preached about in January. Then, 95% of confirmed cases considered mild. Five percent considered severe or critical and 82% of those respond to meds. And it is a virus, so like the flu, we will see it every spring and fall for the rest of our lives.

@Frank52 Potentially crippling that economic system will cause more problems, famine, war, disease that springs from the decay. The eral threat is to older victims, why is this not being pointed out, the average age of a virus fatality in the US is 77.4 years.

@Roadsterrider That's alright then...as long as it's mainly old people dying in agony,(although the UK authorities are warning that they are seeing many young people in our hospitals) I think I can send out the invitations to the beach to both my surviving friends.

I'm not sure what steps younger folk will be taking to ensure the economy they have placed their faith in doesn't do the same to them in 20 years time.

@Frank52 Well, at 54, I seem to be in the range with a higher risk. At least for a more serious infection if not fatal. No, I don't want old folks to be sacrificed, but when summer is here and it all goes away for a while, are we going to do the same thing when October rolls around and next spring again? The best we can do is buy a little time over the summer to come up with a vaccine or a treatment.

@Roadsterrider I think we all wrestle with this conundrum. I believe this 'lockdown' strategy is the bet way anyone has come with to 'buy time'. I hear from most scientists in the media that a mass produced vaccine is unlikely before the middle of 2021. But we also have glimmers of hope over effective treatments, so my prayer is for that as it might be more swiftly available if based on drugs already in production.

@Frank52 I hope so, there are too many older people that would be missing from my life. Myself included. I was just reading an article from statnews.com the WHO found that in China 78% of corona virus victims were between the age of 30 and 69.