Ageism and CoVid 19: First They Lock the Oldsters Up, Then They Refuse The Ventilators. What’s Next?

Abstract

Most commentators claim that age is a determinant of deaths from Co-Vid 19. This paper suggests flaws in this analysis. While co-morbidities associated with age may be contributory, there is no data showing that oldsters are more vulnerable to death from CoVid 19 than they are for dying generally. In fact, it appears that the aged population is less likely to die from CoVid than from Influenza and that the healthy oldster may be able to survive CoVid better than the healthy youngster. I further claim that CoVid policies targeting the elderly have unnecessarily contributed to their deaths. Thus rationing policies depriving the elderly of respirators and imposing restrictive lockdowns themselves contributed to the very assumptions on which these policy decisions were based.

Keywords: corona, CoVid 19, age, discrimination, ageism, rationing, ventilators, policy

JEL Classification: I1, I12, I14, I18, !31, K32