[Goose]

I think it is important to note here how closely interwoven the social fabric is. I have the sense, as yet unquantifiable, that the complete lockdown of March to May was massive overkill; that we could have realized pretty much the same results with much less drastic measures, e.g., the social distancing that is becoming common practice. My belief is that the Great Beast shares that intuition - and, as a result, there is an understandable cynicism about the much less drastic and more well grounded measures on which we now insist, e.g., masks.

I think the "Great Beast" is reacting to the fact that despite the complete lockdown, we are still not anywhere near even "semi-normal", which was the targeted endpoint. The "Great Beast" also doesn't understand that there are tons of things we don't know about this outbreak. When Fauci, or any of the experts make a recommendation regarding policy it isn't a "fact". It is a best guess given what we know. The public doesn't want to hear that. They want a certainty that doesn't exist. Naturally, politicians don't want to tell people what they don't want to hear, so they oversell everything.

There are two big failures that have made the lockdown somewhat ineffective. First, the enforcement in the USA never drove the case load down as low as it needed to be to allow containment. We got stuck on a plateau of cases that was too high, but instead of finding and fixing the leaks, the politicians decided to reopen. Second, we didn't have the capability to do tracking and tracing on anything like the level required. Based on what I see and hear in San Mateo County, compliance is still a brobdingnagian issue as well. So the Great Beast shot itself in the foot with help from it's "brain" (the politicians).

The lack of trust in the experts is understandable, based on the overselling of their recommendations and the failure to actually do what was recommended. Masks are an example. When this started, as BC pointed out there was evidence both ways, and that masks for the general public probably weren't indicated. Now we know more about the transmission modes of the virus, masking makes sense. However, I think masks are gaining a "mystical power" with some of the "Great Beast". If only everybody wore masks, our problems would be over. That isn't so, and no expert has actually ever said that. Masks are a useful tool. How useful we really don't know, but we do know they are useful. They aren't an answer. The "Great Beast" wants an answer, and preferably a simple, easy one.

Yes, we could have produced these same inadequate results with a "lesser lockdown" in many parts of the country. In places like NY, I think the "Great Beast" realized the necessity for more drastic measures. In fact. most parts of the country got a "lesser lockdown" due to lack of compliance/short duration. Then we would still be in a situation where we are currently, no schools, no restaurants, no travel, and no end in sight. It is the latter condition that is making the "Great Beast" angry, IMHO. Sacrifices are one thing. No clear end to them is another.

Most of the persons posting on this forum make their living in a manner that was not effected by the lockdown, medical practitioners, tech workers who can stay at home, pensioners (yours truly). For us, the lockdown was a massive inconvenience, but not fatal. For fellow citizens who made their living in ways that were directly impacted (your brother), philosophical acceptance is a lot harder to come by. If you had your living wiped out, your homeownership endangered, your children's education imperiled, learning that complete lockdown was not completely necessary isn't something you just shrug off. It's infuriating.

 IMHO what is "infuriating" to most people is that the lockdown didn't produce the results that were expected. I don't think it is a question of "Could we have solved the problem in a less destructive manner?" (although that is a relevant question) but rather "After all this, we still are in a mess with no end in sight." Every time we even flinch, the curve goes up again. Schools open and a week later are forced to shut down. We avoided massive deaths, but still have way too many. Not very encouraging. We are stuck until some medical miracle (vaccine, monoclonal antibodies, something) saves us. The Great Beast doesn't like that at all.

[Goose]

I think it is important to note here how closely interwoven the social fabric is. I have the sense, as yet unquantifiable, that the complete lockdown of March to May was massive overkill; that we could have realized pretty much the same results with much less drastic measures, e.g., the social distancing that is becoming common practice. My belief is that the Great Beast shares that intuition - and, as a result, there is an understandable cynicism about the much less drastic and more well grounded measures on which we now insist, e.g., masks.

I think the "Great Beast" is reacting to the fact that despite the complete lockdown, we are still not anywhere near even "semi-normal", which was the targeted endpoint. The "Great Beast" also doesn't understand that there are tons of things we don't know about this outbreak. When Fauci, or any of the experts make a recommendation regarding policy it isn't a "fact". It is a best guess given what we know. The public doesn't want to hear that. They want a certainty that doesn't exist. Naturally, politicians don't want to tell people what they don't want to hear, so they oversell everything.

There are two big failures that have made the lockdown somewhat ineffective. First, the enforcement in the USA never drove the case load down as low as it needed to be to allow containment. We got stuck on a plateau of cases that was too high, but instead of finding and fixing the leaks, the politicians decided to reopen. Second, we didn't have the capability to do tracking and tracing on anything like the level required. Based on what I see and hear in San Mateo County, compliance is still a brobdingnagian issue as well. So the Great Beast shot itself in the foot with help from it's "brain" (the politicians).

The lack of trust in the experts is understandable, based on the overselling of their recommendations and the failure to actually do what was recommended. Masks are an example. When this started, as BC pointed out there was evidence both ways, and that masks for the general public probably weren't indicated. Now we know more about the transmission modes of the virus, masking makes sense. However, I think masks are gaining a "mystical power" with some of the "Great Beast". If only everybody wore masks, our problems would be over. That isn't so, and no expert has actually ever said that. Masks are a useful tool. How useful we really don't know, but we do know they are useful. They aren't an answer. The "Great Beast" wants an answer, and preferably a simple, easy one.

Yes, we could have produced these same inadequate results with a "lesser lockdown" in many parts of the country. In places like NY, I think the "Great Beast" realized the necessity for more drastic measures. In fact. most parts of the country got a "lesser lockdown" due to lack of compliance/short duration. Then we would still be in a situation where we are currently, no schools, no restaurants, no travel, and no end in sight. It is the latter condition that is making the "Great Beast" angry, IMHO. Sacrifices are one thing. No clear end to them is another.

Most of the persons posting on this forum make their living in a manner that was not effected by the lockdown, medical practitioners, tech workers who can stay at home, pensioners (yours truly). For us, the lockdown was a massive inconvenience, but not fatal. For fellow citizens who made their living in ways that were directly impacted (your brother), philosophical acceptance is a lot harder to come by. If you had your living wiped out, your homeownership endangered, your children's education imperiled, learning that complete lockdown was not completely necessary isn't something you just shrug off. It's infuriating.

 IMHO what is "infuriating" to most people is that the lockdown didn't produce the results that were expected. I don't think it is a question of "Could we have solved the problem in a less destructive manner?" (although that is a relevant question) but rather "After all this, we still are in a mess with no end in sight." Every time we even flinch, the curve goes up again. Schools open and a week later are forced to shut down. We avoided massive deaths, but still have way too many. Not very encouraging. We are stuck until some medical miracle (vaccine, monoclonal antibodies, something) saves us. The Great Beast doesn't like that at all.