I wouldn't take the 1/1000 chance, but even then. It's not an all or nothing choice.

It's more like:

- X/1000 chance for people who go to the gym, get sick, lose health permanently, probably infect others

- 0/1000 chance of the same if you stay away from the gym and try to do some sort of similar workout at home, even if it's not ideal. Body weight exercises are great by the way

Who cares if X is 1 or 999? Why would anyone choose the first option?

Because I am already taking a 1/500 chance of death in the next year and I can't do anything about that, so when probabilities get small enough I stop caring. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

If I'm squatting 250 lbs normally, body weight isn't going to do jack for me.

People choose the first option because they weigh risks differently. The risk of permanent health damage as a result of coronavirus disease in my age bracket with no pre-existing conditions is effectively nil.

Many people simply aren't willing to indefinitely maintain a lifestyle that would protect them from the coronavirus, so the risk is already priced in. It's distributed over the times that I visit my family, my roommate visits his friends, I go to the cafe, etc.

>Why would anyone choose the first option?

True if there is no downside, but I can easily think few benefit going to gym :

- some sports can't be done indoor

- some sports can't be done alone

- some sports require equipment that you don't have at home

- social benefit

Yeah, as a former powerlifter I would really be missing my gym buddies if I was really into it now.

For now it seems like indoor gyms as we know them today are probably a bad idea. Hopefully due to a combination of better mitigations in the gym itself (sure put the squat rack in a giant bubble), decline in case counts, etc means the day where going back is not too far away (fingers crossed).