# A Speculative Thread From a More Innocent Time **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [January 24, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-speculative-thread-from-a-more-innocent-time/931368 "2021-01-24T16:01:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-speculative-thread-from-a-more-innocent-time/931368/1 "2021-01-24T16:01:08Z")
While searching for a different thread I’d contributed to I stumbled on this one from 2016. Prophetic in so many ways. > [@What would happen if everyone over the age of 70 died tomorrow?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-everyone-over-the-age-of-70-died-tomorrow/772212): > > Imagine that some force, aliens perhaps, was so aggravated by the outcome of the election they managed to kill off everyone on earth who was over the age of 70. Satisfied with the results, they don’t stick around to harm anyone who wasn’t yet 70, so the people who would turn 70 on Friday or later luck out. How does life change if everyone over the age of 70 suddenly dropped dead? What changes socially? Politically? Economically? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-speculative-thread-from-a-more-innocent-time/931368/2 "2021-01-25T22:13:04Z")
For COVID? Even as bad as it is, it’s not _that_ bad. ISTR that the death rate is upwards of 15% in the oldest cohort. Which spun around, means that around 85% of people in the last cohort who get it aren’t killed by it. And that rate is even less as you go into younger cohorts.