I think the perspective is very valuable. Nonetheless, some thoughts. Maybe my non-American perspective influences my views here.
The stereotypical bureaucrat is not the one who decides about lockdowns. Governments do, in democracies they are elected by the population and parliament has a say.
I recall media discussions about emotional costs of isolation and economic costs for small business and many similar things. They are noted by people in the bureaucracy as well. Emotional costs include those you get if you have infected your grandparents, and the fights and discussions you have if you want to get protection at the workplace while your employer would suffer costs from that.
Measures are often justified by protecting hospitals from hitting their capacity limits. This was communicated as “flatten the curve” in spring 2020 and is part of the omicron discussions.
As I understand it, conspiracy ideology had been part of the US public discourse before covid-19 (e.g., birthers).
Maybe someone can tell me how a realistic “encourage young and healthy people to get sick while protecting the elderly” should work. Possibly the economic costs would be lower than those of policies in many countries, but I don’t see how this is supposed to happen.
I think the perspective is very valuable. Nonetheless, some thoughts. Maybe my non-American perspective influences my views here.
The stereotypical bureaucrat is not the one who decides about lockdowns. Governments do, in democracies they are elected by the population and parliament has a say.
I recall media discussions about emotional costs of isolation and economic costs for small business and many similar things. They are noted by people in the bureaucracy as well. Emotional costs include those you get if you have infected your grandparents, and the fights and discussions you have if you want to get protection at the workplace while your employer would suffer costs from that.
Measures are often justified by protecting hospitals from hitting their capacity limits. This was communicated as “flatten the curve” in spring 2020 and is part of the omicron discussions.
As I understand it, conspiracy ideology had been part of the US public discourse before covid-19 (e.g., birthers).
Maybe someone can tell me how a realistic “encourage young and healthy people to get sick while protecting the elderly” should work. Possibly the economic costs would be lower than those of policies in many countries, but I don’t see how this is supposed to happen.