The evidence on lockdowns is inconclusive. For every legit study that shows correlation there is a legit study that shows the opposite. It will take years of analysis to figure out whether the lockdown experiment worked
I'm not a hoaxer at all, but I'm also not an alarmist.
There have been plenty of things we should have done better, plenty of things we did right, and plenty of things we did that were ineffective or pointless. I feel we should be able to discuss these like adults.
But I see the U.S. at least...
Texas was hit hard after we opened up in September. Anecdotal for sure, but I know a lot of people who got sick but didn't get tested. Likely a result of Texas culture, don't need to go to the doc unless necessary - "I don't need a test to know I'm sick or have Covid."
The only thing that has...
I'm not saying ignore them. Track them, study them, but make public policy decisions based on confirmed threats, not potential threats. That's me looking at this through a systems engineering window.
Any concern over variants is media driven hogwash. Michigan exploded because they opened back up, not because of variants. Texas opened up last September (not in March) and exploded.
Masking does not really prevent catching Covid, it only helps prevent the spread. So only a person with Covid needs the mask; if you are vaccinated it is likely redundant and useless.