The total number of deaths overall is a truer figure. there is some relevant information here if you'd care to look.
[dw.com]

Catching the virus will set you down on one side of the fence for sure. There's nothing like a temperature of 103 for 4 days to make your mind up.

Suddenly the media was saturated with fear mongering news about this Covid thing. I almost immediately smelled something foul about it. In no time at all, every form of main steam media was like a tsunami of panic sticken, fear based, really hard push to deeply change every element of our lives. Soon after seeing the many people who swallowed the fear pill and suckered into drastic reactions, masks & gloves, nearly wearing suits of armor. Seeing how easy it was to bring our society down to our knees in the mud was jaw dropping. My largest concern in the long run is the economic destruction, but as much my concern revolves around the potential food shortages. The Earth's temperature is seriously affected by diminished Sun activity, which could bring crop failures. Adding that to the farmers not being able to supply the food chain. I suspect food shortages will become a matter of very large consequence. When people are faced with emotional reaction, especially when it is about fear, they can become out of character reactionary nut cases, willing to do things they would never have contemplated. Stress and fear can bring people to become violent for survival, emotional craziness.

I'm retired and have no particular reason not to follow the strictest viral hygiene. I have been doing so since before the lock down became official.

There are two competing ways I have come to think about my situation. Is a life lived in fear worth living. Or as part of the most vulnerable demographic do I have an obligation to try and not get sick to free up an ICU bed. Neither of which really address the issue of public policy.

From a policy perspective the keep it locked down sentiment is naive. Not because there isn't justification to think that lives are not more important than money. Nor because there are not solutions to the collateral damage the lock down is causing. Businesses can be rebuilt and most people have more material wealth than is optimal for happiness. Those in favor of keeping it locked down are naive at best.

Keeping it locked down is naive because we are in a war with both foreign and domestic enemies. Whether they call themselves socialist, communist, citizens of the world or directors of government agencies they are authoritarian. In practice every communist state has been nationalistic. Largely removing the distinction between fascism and communism. Even the socialists are more like the Nazis than they realize having got in bed to one degree or the other with the corporatist globalists. Every time I see Dr. Fauci with his smirk and small stature I think of Hitler. They may not be nationalists in the technical sense of the word but they are committed to a culture of technocratic and demographic elitism. They would reduce the Chinese workers and essential deplorables to a type of serfdom. Slavery for the most part has always been about class even in the new world where frontier conditions made serfdom impractical. You don't have to put people on a plantation if you can control what they think and thereby what they do and accept.

I don't see the world through rose colored glasses. At least 20 percent of the population has an IQ or emotional disability that means they are unable to care for themselves. That percentage will grow as AI replaces traditional ways of making your way in the world. The overlords are well aware of this and in their heart of hearts may actually feel an obligation to "care" for the excess population until it can be reduced. Just as many slave owners felt an obligation to care for their slaves. Let's just accept that we need to be controlled and cared for. Forget the insult to human dignity for the moment. There are "pragmatic" reason to reject their world view not the least of which is their apparent incompetence.

There are non idealistic reasons to oppose slavery. From a purely economic perspective it degrades "progress". Had the Southern U.S. not have become dependent on slavery, which was really nothing more than racial serfdom following the European example of landed nobility, it would have had an industrial base and free population capable of defeating the North. The same is probably true of the Roman empire.

That brings us to the heart of the matter which is our war. The war against the fascist government of China. It is not about our personal well being that we resist the lock down but because in this economic war freedom is our greatest asset. To win against the enslaving foreign and domestic enemies our best weapon is innovation and free markets. Things that can only flourish in an environment of freedom of speech, and freedom from authoritarianism. The people that are by nature suited for life in a bureaucratic state will suffer where there is freedom but in the long run not as much as if we were to lose the war.

I agree, I believe the fear of COVID-19(84) will kill more people than the virus itself.

Fear is a rational response to threats. It should motivate the actions needed to assess and mitigate the threat.

The problem is, how do you know truth from BS in todays environment of fake news and sensationalism for dollars or likes? You need to research, investigate, explore, etc to find facts and trustworthy opinions. The full story is rarely the article you are reading but the Internet is an amazing place. The truth is out there - It may be spread over many documents but it is out there. Even with tech/government censorship, it is out there. Somewhere...

Here's my personal rules:
Trust no one
Question everything
Tell the truth
and above all else, Follow the Money

One final point: Anything can cause fear. Only one thing can reduce it. Anyone can cause fear. Only one person can reduce it.

You are the ONLY person that can upset you. You must allow everyone else.

I believe in destiny. Deja vu is your window. Worrying about something I can’t control is a waste of a lot of energy. No one is guaranteed tomorrow. You can get hit by a semi or choke on a peanut. When it’s your time to cross over, there is nothing you can do to change it. Everybody is going to die, some just sooner than later.