[goodlifeodyssey]

I'm also a New York resident, and my wife is a nurse practitioner who worked during COVID.

"how many restaurants is one life worth?"

It would take quite a few restaurants. However, you are ignoring the fact that letting all of the restaurants close will also kill people. I don't know how large this effect is, but we also don't know how many people will get COVID due to restaurants being open. It's complicated.

As a society we are okay with people driving cars, yet we know automobile accidents kill people.

I would ask you: How many car trips are worth one life?

[untog]

Oh, I actually agree with you that it’s complicated and we don’t know if we’re making the right choice, that’s what I was trying to get at with “it’s too early to tell”. The reality is we won’t know what the right level is for a long time, if we ever do. My preference is to lean on the cautious side. My dispute with the OP was their blanket assertion.

[geofft]

(Also a New York resident, hi neighbors!) Yes, the problem we're facing is that the virus is going to be terrible for humanity and for the economy. There's no way around that. There are no good answers. No matter what we do, many people will die and many more will lose their livelihoods and their lives' work.

The question before us is to find the least bad answer - how do we save as many lives and livelihoods as possible? Of course every possible answer (including "do nothing and attempt to disclaim moral responsibility," which several governments seem to prefer) has a terrible cost. Some of those options are relatively less terrible.

(Personally, I think the city should lock down aggressively and also aggressively provide monetary relief to people negatively impacted, through taking on debt if needed, and figure it out later. If we don't survive this, the city loses its tax base anyway.)