Are COVID-19 "Parties" Really That Crazy? Why Not Address Their Sensibility, Rather Than Their Insensibility ?

This blog is in response to an article here:  https://medium.com/wadepthealth/10-reasons-not-to-have-a-covid-19-party-5f726563594c , which for some reason is near the top of a list of Google search results.  Apparently, its written by the "Washington State Department of Health".  I find that hard to believe, given the quality of this article.

This article is not satisfactory. But that doesn’t mean the author is wrong, it just means that the reasons given in this article are not compelling. Actual discussion and debate is needed. I do not mean to advocate for COVID-19 parties, but I have some questions and arguments that should be answered by someone knowledgeable.  This blog consists of my own opinions, and my opinions are subject to change.  I'm not a doctor.

“Besides, even if most of the adults got COVID-19 and were immune, the disease could still circulate among children.”

On the contrary, a quick Google-search tells me that most kids are asymptomatic, or only experience mild symptoms from the coronavirus — Not every child, but most children, along with young adults who are healthy enough.

“Immunity may wane over time.”

Okay. That is a valid concern, except that from the looks of things, most of the population is going to HAVE to get infected eventually, even if its by a vaccine instead of naturally. So yes, its a concern, and the lock-down does nothing to fix that problem.

“Even if the same number of people ultimately get the disease, they all get better health care if we spread those infections out over time.”

Yes. We don’t want to overwhelm our hospitals by everyone getting infected at once. However, outside of New York, there are plenty of hospitals that are nearly empty, at least for now. That’s a good thing, compared to what is happening in Italy for example! We should be grateful for the current outcome. But at what point will the emptiness of hospitals have gone too far? If the emptiness continues, and continues, then something should be done about it. Likewise, if this lock-down continues, and continues, then alternative strategies should be considered. For example, for the purpose of working toward herd-immunity or speeding-up vaccine development, or developing a blood-plasma alternative to a vaccine, why can’t a healthy person voluntarily infect himself, perhaps with the with the aid of a doctor, under a CONTROLLED environment that minimizes the risk of spreading the virus, and then under such conditions that the virus can be further researched? This would be totally ethical so long as the volunteers are healthy enough to have a high probability of survival, if they are well-informed about the risks, if they quarantine themselves, and if the process is completely their own initiative such that they are heroically risking their own lives with a high chance of survival.

“COVID-19 is deadly.” “This is not a fun disease to get.”

But its not that deadly to healthy people who aren’t obese, who are young, who are fit, who don’t have respiratory issues, etc. There is no controlling this virus, unless we all wear full-blown gas masks, and carry out other extreme procedures, sooner or later, most of us are going to have to receive the corona-virus, either by choice, or by accident, or by vaccine. (By the way, from here on out, our country should have the ability to give every citizen a gas mask, along with instructions on how to survive numerous disaster scenarios. It would be cheap, compared to all the cell phones we all have.)

“You could get very sick”

This is true.

“You could spread the disease to vulnerable people.”

Not if you quarantine yourself after getting infected and only receive groceries by delivery, etc.

“It’s prohibited by the governor’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order.”

I am not a doctor, but hopefully a doctor will read this and answer me. This is MY opinion. My opinion is subject to change. Here we go: A continued MANDATORY lock-down, in the same style of lock-down up until now, may turn out to be just as bad or worse for the world than if we choose to quit the lock-down now. We could at the very least make the lock-down optional, instead of mandatory. At the end of the day, people are responsible for their own lives. They should be warned, informed, advised, and assisted, but not micromanaged. If the people who die from the coronavirus are an unhealthy minority, then the healthier majority can, instead of quarantining themselves, focus on helping those who are unhealthy to voluntarily quarantine themselves while giving them financial support. Meanwhile, the rest of the healthy world can get to work on developing herd-immunity, because sooner or later, most of us are going to have to receive the corona-virus, either by choice, or by accident, or by vaccine.

Bearing all this in mind, a COVID-19 party doesn’t sound that crazy, if there was any way to do it responsibly, instead of haphazardly. Of course, the very word “party” sounds irresponsible and incendiary.

So someone please answer me, and answer me well.