Tell me again, how lockdowns were the only option for handling this virus.
Tell me again, how lockdowns were the only way to keep the public safe.
Tell me again, how forcing those already confined into total solitude was the only way to save their lives.
Tell me again, how its all for the children.
There were and are absolutely intermediate steps that can and should be done to protect the vulnerable. The expansion of shopping services, and other hands off services. The expansion of sick days and the ability to work from home from businesses. The recognition that some people have fucked immune systems and need additional protection. I’d certainly like to see these things continued and expanded.
But the assumption that we, as a national and international community, needed to shut down everything in order to save lives?
No.
The long term health damage from these shutdowns is going to be astronomical, just in the first world countries involved. Physical health, mental health, and emotional health. And not just to the adults. Children NEED the social interactions we just forced them to miss, they NEED it in order to learn to be better adults. We just fucked the hell out of the next generation, and that sort of thing has the ability to snowball into additional generations as those kids grow up and have kids of their own.
The long term health damage done to non-first world countries due to the shutdown? Programs to alleviate starvation had to shut down. Programs to alleviate various major diseases had to shut down. Shutdowns that mean that their efforts could be set back years due to having to start over in some areas. Shutdowns that mean that they now have to start over at gaining local trust.
And the economic, world wide, damage done by the shut down and the following various health issues? Yah.
So tell me again…..