"In fact choosing to sacrifice the welfare and autonomy of the fit and young on the altar of the old and moribund is the height of societal decadence."

I'm finding it hard to fully unpack all of the reasons this sentence makes me cringe. First, the young and fit get COVID19 too. At the moment COVID19 variants are disproportionately infecting, and killing, young people in many parts of the US. And even if they don't die, younger people are more prone to long term sequela from their infection, the extent of which we are still trying to determine.

Second, wearing a mask, social distancing, avoiding large crowds and getting vaccinated , all in the course of little over one year is hardly sacrificing the welfare and autonomy of the fit and young. We all have freedoms but with those freedoms comes responsibilities. We don't allow people to operate motor vehicles while drunk, in most cases we mandate childhood vaccinations as a prerequisite for attending public schools, during wars we conscript the "young and fit" to defend the country, and everyone has to do jury duty when called.

I say that the height of societal decadence is thinking that as we grow older our worth to society grows less. Furthermore being over 65 years old does not mean you are "moribund." and therefore less valuable to society.

The young and fit will soon become the old and with time, moribund. Societies that have considered one group superior to another based on things such as race, social economic status, age, gender or any other generalized category have not fared well in history. I am glad that there are still pockets of the world were a person's worth to society is judged by their words and deeds, not on things like their age.