> in Western countries people are seriously considering 12 month style lockdowns to protect potentially as low as 1% of the population who are well past the good years of their life.

Other than being completely calloused, this argument also isn't true. We don't know the exact mortality rates because we haven't seen proper data for it yet. Depending on when you get your numbers, Italy has had up to 34% of their infected die.

Furthermore, this isn't just a Boomer and Silent Generation killer. Asthmatics, immuno-comprimised, and otherwise healthy people without access to decent health care for socioeconomic reasons are at risk.

I'm not arguing for or against such a long quarantine time. I'm only stating that we aren't just trying to save the last holdouts from the 40s.