Well done.

I've always thought the current Covid policies have been driven mostly on the inability for our health care system to handle the crisis "well." And I "believe" the data is there to show that this 1% death rate (or less) has produced hospitals too full to handle patients with the usual level of professionalism. And other important treatments being cancelled. While nowhere near as bad as the Spanish flu, there should be no doubt Covid 19 was going to challenge our health care system. There's no way we could have handled it by pretending it was just another flu.

On the other side, far too many people are not voluntarily taking reasonable precautions to reduce the spread and their chance of contracting the disease. "No, you don't need to go to the bar five nights a week after work." "No, God does not need you to attend that mega-church on Sundays to remain to be saved." "Yes, you should go visit your friends once in a while. But just a few. Wearing a mask will help." No doubt that even wise voluntary lockdowns would have caused the economy some dislocation.

One interesting stat is the comparison between Canada and the USA, two fairly similar countries. Canada has about a third of the death rate as the USA. That is significant. We can attribute that to better political leadership. I have to wonder that if people really trusted their government(s) and scientists, how effective would have voluntary lockdowns and reasonable precautions been.

I'm looking at this from a different angle than you. In 1996, I acquired the Epstein-Barr virus. I should have taken a more restful approach to heal, but I charged through my busy life. The result was "chronic fatigue syndrome", which took about 12 years to recover. Even today, I really can't do management stuff anymore. My ability to earn a reasonable income was over.

I'm already a long hauler from a viral infection. The experts are not certain about the extent of long hauler effects from Covid. If 5% of Covid infectees are taken out of the economy for the rest of their lives, that too should be taken into consideration.

In May 2019, I got the flu. The hardest flu I've had. One month of coughing and hacking. Two months to get my energy back. I fear Covid will really be hard on me. Again, reasonable precautions to reduce the risk. But there never is a guarantee on life.