WHEN DID IT BECOME UNACCEPTABLE FOR OLD PEOPLE TO DIE?

I don’t hate old people. I am one, or so I’m told. I’ve probably visited more old people — including non-relatives — in nursing homes than have 90% of Americans. I oppose physician-assisted suicide.

But it was never sensible to shut down society over the Coronavirus, principally to disrupt American life enough to oust Trump from office. And I didn’t vote for Trump in 2016.

Neither lockdowns nor masks have been shown to save lives. To the contrary, the most locked down/masked up states have had the most Coronavirus deaths. Instead, lockdowns seem likely to hasten elder deaths. During lockdowns, the old are even more isolated and neglected and are deprived of immune-boosting, sunshine-derived Vitamin D.

Those who support lockdowns invariably decry the aggregate number of Coronavirus deaths. For extra histrionic measure, and in order to foreclose rational discussion of whether lockdowns are constructive or destructive, demagogues assert that, because some old or otherwise unhealthy people have died with Coronavirus, Trump — or, alternatively, Governor Cuomo or Murphy — “has blood on his hands!” Those who allude to Pontius Pilate feel they have insightfully revealed some vicious act. But one cannot reasonably compare the natural deaths of old men to the crucifixion of a young man.

Currently, 570,000 people are said to have died with — not from — Covid-19. To begin with, Coronavirus tests yield 90% false positives; many of those who have been categorized as having died with Coronavirus infections had little to no viral load.

Further, according to recent CDC data, of those who have died with — not from — Coronavirus, 94% had multiple comorbidities, i.e., conditions that already put them at high risk of death. Many who died with Coronavirus would also have died without it, either at the same time as they did die, or a few weeks or months later.

There are at least 335,000,000 people in the United States. Compared to the overall population, the deaths of 570,000 Americans with — not from — coronavirus should not shock anyone: this means that about one in 600 Americans has died with — not from — Coronavirus. If you were placed in a large theater containing a random sample of 600 Americans for nine months, would you be surprised if the single oldest, unhealthiest person died? That’s effectively what has happened since March, 2020.

The vast majority of those dying with Coronavirus are old. 80% of those who died with Coronavirus were over 65, and 65% were over 80. The average American lives 79 years. Not coincidentally, the average age of those who die with Covid-19 is 79 years. Less than 0.2% of those under 60 with Coronavirus infections die. Moreover, 94% of the old, infected survive infection.

About 1.5 million Americans live in nursing homes. Forty two percent of those who have died with — not of— Coronavirus were nursing home dwellers.

Let’s be honest: despite the best efforts of many workers, nursing homes are dismal places. It is extremely hard to be in pain, deeply — often silently — confused, tired and lonely, surrounded by people in similar misery, moaning or staring into space with the saddest expressions imaginable while daytime TV drones on, cloyingly scented deodorizers fill the air and institutional food is served.

Against this backdrop, the recent outrage that many have expressed about old people dying seems profoundly insincere. People sent to nursing homes are typically expected to die there. Over half of those who enter nursing homes perish within six months. Many old people, and especially those in nursing homes, understandably lose their will to live. How many people who rail against nursing home deaths visit and comfort nursing home residents?

Many adults currently care, or have cared, for parents who spent years in poor health. It’s difficult to serve those who are suffering physically, unhappy, angry and/or unable to remember even the names of family members. Many caretakers have wearily told me about caretaking’s physical and emotional toll. Those who don’t complain about this, and who ascribe political blame for 570,000 deaths, tend to have done very little caretaking.

Upon the passing of their parents, most caretakers express that the deceased person, and they, had undergone a too-long ordeal. These caretakers are not bad people. To the contrary, they are some of the best people I’ve known. They are just reacting to the extreme challenge presented by caring for those who would have died younger of natural causes in prior decades, before we used life-extending, but not restorative, medical measures. Should society and the medical system strive to keep every person alive until they are old, lonely, debilitated and incoherent, and even beyond that?

In the meanwhile, those governors who have closed schools, workplaces, houses of worship, restaurants, bars and other places of human interaction have deeply damaged what remained of social life in the TV/Internet age, especially for young people. Seventy million students — at effectively zero risk — are being deprived of a proper education, time with peers and activities that create both near term happiness and lasting memories, e.g., school musicals, sports, volunteer work and class trips. Healthy, younger adults are also missing out on fulfilling, life-sustaining time with others.

Moreover, young people are failing to launch careers and build families in a faltering economy. American fertility rates have dropped to all-time lows during the past 14 months. With businesses tanking and Coronavirus relief package-driven inflation taking hold, most workers will need to work additional years to recapture the economic ground lost during lockdowns. If they ever do.

Further, the stress caused by these economic reversals causes physical and mental pathologies among those not already worn out or ill. And the unemployed won’t supply governments or NGOs with the tax or donation revenue needed to supply the life-sustaining goods and services that these entities provide.

Those at risk or in fear of the Coronavirus can, and should, self-quarantine. However, except as political theater, it has never made sense to futilely attempt to extend, at great societal cost, the lives of a very small percentage of people who have already lived a long time by locking down young, healthy people. Seeking vainly to advance the interests of some individuals often disserves the larger group, especially when we simultaneously disregard nature.

Tragically, this country has sent millions of very young men, many in their teens, to be killed or maimed in a series of wars, ostensibly to allow others to more fully live their lives. If America has invoked the collective interest to justify such extreme individual sacrifice from those who still had many vital years ahead of them, shouldn’t we now consider the costs to the larger, younger group of shutting down the country in an attempt to slightly extend the lives of a relatively small number of old and already ill individuals?

Most fundamentally, those who have lived into their sixties, and beyond, have had a good chance at life. It’s sad when old, unhealthy people die. But it’s not tragic. It can even be merciful; I’ve heard many people say that it was. Whether we like it or not, life is finite.

It always has been. When the human life span was around 40, the Roman philosopher Seneca said, “The problem is not that life is too short, it’s that we waste too much of it.”

This is truer, and more relevant than ever.