How many people lost their job due to those evil lockdowns vs lost their job because our government failed to control this virus and has continued to ravage this country for 7+ months?
Just food for thought, I would love to see someone breakdown that question.
It is a virus. Humans can not really "control" this (or any) virus without medical intervention such as a vaccine or cure. Some viruses can be contained with isolation, quarantine and contact tracing but for that to work the virus must cause somewhat severe illness in almost all patients and certainly can't be able to spread by asymptomatic carriers like this one.
The only way any government (and it is ravaging the entire world, not just the USA) can modify the outbreak curve is to control the behavior of the citizens. The more suppression of the curve is desired, the more freedom must be taken from the citizens. However, as seen in many places, once those freedoms are restored the virus will do what viruses do and spread at the prior rate again.
This is the reason why the topic has become political, because it is. The further "right" somebody is, the more they tend to be appalled at taking away freedoms and tend to feel that people should be personally responsible for their own safety. The further "left" somebody is, the more they tend to feel "the government" can and should do whatever is necessary to take care of people and keep them safe.
The mask "battle" is nothing more than a metaphor for the divergent schools of thought. To somebody on the right, it represents authoritarian control. To somebody on the left it represents caring for your fellow man and "doing something."
"Control" of this virus is a trade off between the level of "control" of the virus and the level of shutting down freedoms and the economy. It also leads to an increase in unintended consequences like mental illness, addiction issues and some increase in domestic violence. Of course, less "control" of the spread of the virus and more freedoms and personal responsibility will also have some detrimental effect on the economy which will have some of those unintended consequences as well.
Had the world (and it would have been required for the entire world to act in concert) completely and totally shut down for 2 months or more (no essential businesses, nobody coming into any contact with any person outside of their household), it might have stopped the spread but would have taken the worldwide economy back to the stone age and probably led to the breakdown of civilization.
The bottom line is there is no "correct" answer. There is only what each person believes is the acceptable trade off. I am often accused of my beliefs on the subject being selfish. In a way that is true but the opposing belief is selfish also. It might be "touchy feely" and sound good but wanting me to give up my freedoms to protect you is also selfish.
The only thing that both sides are ever going to agree on is that the world will not be back to normal until there is a safe and highly effective vaccine available.
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