Citation needed for “That level of death would plunge the US into far worse than the Great Depression.” 3 million Americans die every year. The risk of COVID-19 is also highly stratified by age, so looking at a single number like 0.8% lacks important context; the median age of death from COVID-19 is above life expectancy. Your 800,000 number (which is up for debate) also doesn’t take into account what part of that would be mortality displacement (likely a considerable part of it).
3 million Americans die every year in a normal healthcare system. Throw 2 million additional deaths (one of the early worst case scenarios) - hell, even 800k deaths - into a totally maxed out healthcare system, and you seriously think things are going to be all peachy?
