[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Chris

This is a question all governments answer all the time, with regards to health policy. In wars, they answer it too, in terms of acceptable losses balanced against military advantage.

I'm not sure how fair it is to expect a solid answer to such a question on an internet forum. I expect the balancing act is highly delicate. To attempt to just splash a figure here would be the very definition of crass. Nevertheless, just because it is a difficult question to be handled sensitively, it does not follow that the question should not be answered. It has to be.

That's a shrewd observation. Existential threats isa trhe characterisation of both situations. Hence "acceptable losses".

Trouble is, one has to be somewhat callous to defend the Guvmin on that basis (Chris isn't defending them her in my reading). War is one thing where it's kill or be killed whereas the pandemic is die if you don't hide.