Keeping old people alive is big business.

There are family members that will cling on; even when mom or dad would be better off passing away. It is easy for them to cling too, if the government is picking up the tab, why should they care? They refuse to sign DNRs and they won't look at hospice care. I've even seen patients on dialysis that are skin and bones with little to no cognitive ability. What is the point of that? To me it is torture.

Closing down the whole planet because old people might catch the flu is indeed over the top. This thing, sacrificing the young for the old, has been prevalent in some countries where the old enjoy some handsome pensions while the young strive to survive with peanuts.