Why is the Police not enforcing social distancing at the parks and beaches?

You wrote:

To which I responded:

Now, I suppose the only part you could have a genuine quibble over is the point that it was "OK." However, you set the stage for that notion even if you didn't write the words. By saying that 90% of the people killed by COVID weren't actually killed by COVID they were, to use your words, "pushing people already nearing death through that door" you're downplaying the severity of something to the point of it being, well, almost harmless.

The influenza vaccine is incredibly effective. You may have noticed we have not had an influenza pandemic in a hundred years or so.

Just because you might get the flu doesn't mean the vaccine is ineffective. The purpose of the vaccine is to slow and minimize the spread through a population so it doesn't become a pandemic.

 

I don't care where a person's politics lie. I really don't. I am voting for Biden. And whenever I see someone wearing a Trump 2020 mask my first response is "Good job wearing a mask!" Vote as you will.

So please trust me when I say that if a member of Biden's potential administration ever threw a temper tantrum because the NIH director wasn't taking his views on experimental drug treatment seriously and, with a completely straight face, argued that his PhD in Economics meant he knew what he was talking about...I would have a very similar negative reaction.

If I were to be diagnosed with, say, Pancreatic Cancer there would be many factors to weigh in how I proceed. I'd want to hear from the doctors. Potentially across a variety of specialties. I would also want to look at the finances. I wouldn't want to nuke my family's finances for something that I only had a 5% chance of beating. But I wouldn't make taking on $10k (my plan's out of pocket max) per year for a few years if I had the Steve Jobs/RBG sort of pancreatic cancer I might actually rebound from. I would make my decision based on the overall context.

However...

If I am having a heart attack and a doctor rushes to my aid, I would be rather annoyed if my accountant pulled him away saying he needed equal time and consideration during this emergency. Annoyed worse still if my mechanic jumped in to talk about how my recovering from a heart attack means I won't be driving as much and we need to plan the service schedule accordingly.

When things are relatively calm you take a balanced approach. When you're in an emergency situation you listen to the people best equipped to handle that emergency. There is nothing political about it.

 

Tell someone that this year their 401(k) will decline by 0.08% and they will be very upset. Tell someone that 0.08% of the population will suddenly die and it's suddenly not a big deal to them.