At what point do we start to accept that this is triage?
When, as a population, do we get on board with the notion that we're having to make choices now between lives and livelihoods?
Yes, mitigation methods help, and God knows this shitshow of a Government could be doing better than they are at implementing them, but they aren't helping enough. Every country is seeing a resurge. Every country is struggling. It's not just us, and its happening even in the countries that are doing everything 'right'.
If you open everything, the virus spreads unchecked and people die. It's that cut and dried. Alternatively, if you close everything, you trash the economy, people's health, mental health, family relationships.
The solution's obviously a mid-point between the two, but.... where?
So, what's the numbers? We cannot save every life AND save every job. Maintaining one costs the other and will for at least the next six months. So, let's put this in the terms it is being talked about, in those Cobra meetings and briefings, with those pretty coloured graphics. It's triage now, between numbers of lives vs numbers of jobs. A generations' education vs the £x-billion in tax revenue essential to keep the country a functioning state.
Is it better to have the money in the short term and accept massive unemployment, skills shortages, immigration and state cuts in the future, or accept debt now and keep kids in schools, hoping enough of them earn enough in the future to pay it off?
Health care is a priority, for obvious reasons. Food distribution is a priority. At a certain point, retail becomes a priority in some sectors, because people need shoes/clothes/bedding etc. A lot of both food and retail could be moved online, but not all of it. Not in a short time frame.
Everything else - every other job, in every other sector - after that comes down to whether its worth the trade to keep it. Every job is crucial for the person in it; they all pay someone's housing costs, food costs, heating costs, they all contribute to the tax pot.
Hospitality isn't essential infrastructure, any more than the Arts, or Sport, or Hairdressing, or foreign holidays, and frankly, they've already had a smoother ride and a lot more support than any of those sectors. No-one actually needs access to a pub to survive, any more than a theatre, football match, haircut, trip to Spain to sit on a beach So, just like those jobs, hospitality jobs are only worth what they're worth to the economy and to the people in them. The country can function without them.
Which means asking - how many daily deaths is the pub trade worth? It's brutal, but its the reality of the situation. What about sport? Holidays? Hairdressers? Theatres? Any other industry you can think of? How many lives are we willing to lose to protect those livelihoods? Are we okay with 5,000? 50,000? 100,000?
None is not an option, not if you want people working.