"Only 12% of virus deaths in Italy were directly due to covid-19. The remaining 88% had pre-existing conditions."

This point is meaningless without knowing: How common are pre-existing conditions? Asthma's one. So 110,000 kids in NZ have a pre-existing condition.

NZ already has a high rate of respiratory infections because of our cold, mouldy houses. And then about 15% of NZers over 45 have COPD, another respiratory condition. These affect Māori & Pacific people disproportionately. We have lots of people with pre-existing conditions.

Like, it's fine to come up with a covid-19 management strategy that involves a lot of people dying, but you should probably be honest about how many people you're putting at risk and who those people are likely to be.

It's also weird to advocate for a kind of "survival of the fittest" when our health system is *literally designed* to help the unfittest have long and fulfilling lives.

I'm pretty sure each of us really like quite a few people who aren't part of the majority who will be fine with covid-19.

It seems to me that our values are more in line with "personal sacrifice to protect loved ones" than "they sacrifice so I can continue my life as normal".