But the realistic (read: not literally shutting down the whole world) alternative is __________?
Like I said, let them do their thing. Go jump up and down in the name of Jesus. Go to parks, crap in a public loo, eat off a raw buffet. Do it. But don't force me into it.
Don't reopen the school and obligate my kids to attend, because "the whole world can't shut down." Don't obligate my husband to go back to work at the office and come into contact with thousands of people again, per week, all in the name of opening up the economy again, and exercising our right to do whatever the fuck we want, with no regard for anybody.
Because for a lot of people COVID 19 is a death sentence. You also want to get kids sick, who recover with testicles and ovaries like marbles for the rest of their lives? Or young adults who aspire to have a family and get married, only to find themselves on dialysis, reproductively sterile, with weak lung function?
Thing is, we had a fucking chance. Young people aren't going to have the choices we have, even if we opened the world up. Opening things up and letting nature take its course will do nothing but kill people, maim others, sterilize some, affect the brains of others. Those who recover completely get a total shit sandwich of having less family income due to disability, loss of social and emotional support, and a dried up wellspring of opportunities because sane people still won't go out.
So for those of us who have lived our own fucking lives and had choices to make available to us awesome. Sure, throw youth on the front lines, about 2/1000 will, in fact die. Many more will live with complications.
I could fucking croak tomorrow. Catch is, I won't. It will be somebody else's mom. Or kid. Or aunt, uncle, friend ... grandparent.
So please, it is easy to volunteer other people into getting infected, because you want to exercise your rights. But if you are over 30 and under 65 with no pre-x then all the more power to you.
But please, try to respect the fact that a lot of people are really afraid of this thing for damn good, evidence-based reasons and are holding out up until more information or a vaccine comes in. So what you consider essential for exercising your rights is a great source of anxiety for others.
The world is not shutting down either. Only non-essential activities and services and schools. Far cry from "the whole world."