Also maybe you could have been forced to meet my grandfather who languished and died in an old folks home alone because nobody was allowed to visit him. Or maybe you could have had a phone call with my wife’s old school friend before she committed suicide during the pandemic because she had mental health issues that were exacerbated by forced isolation and took her over the edge.
At least they didn’t catch Covid though. Thank goodness.
- and didn't spread it to many other vulnerable people.
No mitigations are going to be entirely or even largely consequence free. It is a balance of harms. Do nothing was never an option, we should have been better at what we did do, in terms of effectiveness against COVID and also in reducing other harms.
Of course, the sooner and the more completely the virus is controlled (e.g. China) the sooner normal life can resume.
The virus will be around forever. I would rather take my chances with the virus than live in an authoritarian shithole like China. Remember Tiananmen Square?
Also maybe you could have been forced to meet my grandfather who languished and died in an old folks home alone because nobody was allowed to visit him. Or maybe you could have had a phone call with my wife’s old school friend before she committed suicide during the pandemic because she had mental health issues that were exacerbated by forced isolation and took her over the edge.
At least they didn’t catch Covid though. Thank goodness.