The challenging thing about treatments - assuming people can afford them - in a viral situation is that they are only (relatively speaking) marginally helpful in getting the economy going again. Countries around the world could have just tossed a lot of over 60 year-olds under the bus. After all, retirees and particularly poor retirees don't contribute much to the economy. Quite the contrary - as a group they're a huge burden on the economy. Economically speaking, a sizable, swift cull of the old is good for the young. A big pit is relatively cheap to dig and you eliminate a massive amount of unfunded pension and healthcare costs, as well as free up a lot of capital for more productive use.
The challenge with a virus that preys on the old is, therefore, largely a moral one. And countries around the world have largely chosen to endeavor to mitigate the impact on society (at a cost to the economy) of a very large number of deaths weighted heavily (but not entirely) on those over 60. Personally I'm in favor of such moves and while the globe will experience a sharp and deep recession like none we've experienced in modern history, I don't believe we are headed for a depression. (We've learnt a lot since the mistakes of the late 1920s.). The policy response has been good thus far.
A treatment can help save a lot of lives and, by moving people more quickly through intensive care, help alleviate the burden on healthcare infrastructure. But without a vaccine you still have the issue of getting people back to work many of whom are required to work in close quarters with their colleagues, wanting to go to packed restaurants, bars, clubs and movie theaters or sit on planes with 400+ other people they don't know on their way to a cruise ship for a tour of the Med including such delightful places as a packed Venice or Milan, or even sit shoulder to shoulder in church without being fearful they too will need an intensive care bed a few weeks later.
A vaccine remains the primo goal. I'm optimistic that we get there although I don't believe it's going to be a swift process to find one and get the population vaccinated. And even more so, I fully expect my young children to be the last generation to suffer from seasonal (or otherwise) 'flu just as my generation should have been the last to suffer from measles, mumps and chickenpox. In the interim, I would be pleasantly surprised to not contract COVID-19. I'm not fearful of it. I look after myself, eat well and stay fit and that, coupled with only being in my mid 50s, means I'm not in a high risk category. It could very well be unpleasant but the odds of me dying from it are low. The probability of my children suffering from it is also very low. Now if I were older, unfit and had higher risk preconditions then I'd have every cause to be much more concerned. But maybe we shouldn't give a toss about those people and just dig a few big pits like they did in 1918. Or find some middle ground like only giving treatments to those under 40 or those that have saved enough to not be a burden on the economy in late age...
