A talking point - for those starting to rationalize more deaths expected with "herd immunity":

[PutGramaOnThePhone]

7. Do you want to offer up your family?

Yeah, pro-life indeed.

Edit: speaking of blathering on, I realize I did did that with this reply . Sorry - a couple of years reading, now feeling ready to post a bit - guess I couldn’t stop myself from poring a bit of what I’ve been thinking into this thread.

I’m not out much, but I’ve heard a few people saying the standard know-it-all line: “we just need to get to heard immunity.” The next time i have the opportunity, I’d like to ask the speaker what they know about herd immunity. I’ve read that experts are estimating that at least 70% of the population would have be infected to reach heard immunity. The cost - as the OP says - would most likely be 2 to 3 million dead. Given that, I’d like to pose the question to someone blathering on about herd immunity, if they want to sign up their parents and grandparent to get infected and get the ball rolling. On top of this, I think we can still say that we don’t really yet know what immunity even means with this virus.

I’m sure the human impact of these herd immunity “experts” plans would also include millions of recovered with lasting heath issues - based on what we are learning about life after catching the virus. My speculation is that forcing heard immunity *could* put enough stress on health care providers and resources, that estimates of a death toll based on current fatality rates could be too low.

Of course there is the way that herd immunity has actually been reached in the past for different diseases - a combination of vaccines and people getting sick. It seems to me that this model, possibly along with some long term behavior modification, is the only sane way to have chance to reach herd immunity with this virus.

Maybe some thoughts to distill down into talking points :