hamsters Actually I agree in part -- many of the restrictions placed on society, especially in the UK, Europe, US and Australia, have been blunt, ineffective, wafty and illiberal. I'm often in agreement with you on these boards on that front.
But there's a difference between arguing against harsh and unhelpful restrictions, and someone posting this figure out of context in an attempt to claim that covid has only affected 17,000 people (or 9,000 people, depending on which stat is being chucked around). It is only a fraction of the true picture.
Also, the 'life isn't fair' argument works both ways.
Pandemics affect, or at least impact, everyone -- regardless of how severely they're likely to be affected by the actual illness itself. Because there are other impacts beyond the medical; societal, economical, political.
I lost my business in 2020 and three of my employees lost their jobs. I haven't seen my parents in almost two years. And my mental health has suffered. And I know many more people who've suffered impacts like that than who have been negatively impacted by covid itself.
It isn't right, and it isn't OK. But it is what happens to us sometimes. Into every life a little rain must fall, but it doesn't always fall at the same rate, to all people, at the same time. But we all get wet, one way or another.