Rise of the Coronavirus Cranks – Quillette

I am no lockdown junkie. I'd like to get that straight before I explain why the most extreme variant of lockdown scepticism is rebarbative and destructive. I will never forgive the government for dragging out the first lockdown for 14 weeks, pointlessly exhausting the public's patience and sowing the seeds of the non-compliance we see today. I think the second lockdown was an unnecessary overreaction to a surge in cases in the north-west that was being dealt with by local restrictions. I think the 10pm curfew was counter-productive and the tier system was clumsy and unfair.

I always thought "circuit breakers" caused unnecessary hardship and had no chance of nipping the problem in the bud, as their advocates claimed. It was criminal to not reopen the schools in June and I'm not entirely convinced they should be closed now. I scorn the likes of Piers Morgan and "Independent" SAGE who would have had us in lockdown all year if they'd had a chance. No amount of comparing Sweden to its immediate neighbourswill persuade me that the Swedes didn't have a better 2020 than most Europeans. Contrary to folk wisdom, you can put a price on life and it can't be denied that most of the people who die of COVID have had a good innings.

Good summary of the views in lockdown. I've been a bit of a sceptic myself from early in, but not a "lockdown crank". Admitted a few weeks ago I'd got the trend wrong — expecting that it might be the same as SARS. So, no, I don't think the virus is a hoax and I don't doubt that lockdowns have some effect. It's that there seems to be no correlation between strictness of lockdown and rate of infections. Less stringent lockdowns, more smartly targeted, can have the same or nearly so, effects, without strangling economies. 

More…

https://quillette.com/2021/01/16/rise-of-the-coronavirus-cranks/