Commentary
These days, many people are justifying the egregious government response to the virus based on the claim of ignorance. We just didn’t know and could not know, they say. It’s preposterous. It was obvious from early on, to anyone who cared to look, that COVID was a textbook respiratory virus and that lockdowns would change nothing long-term about its trajectory. We all knew from all history that muscling people, closing schools and business, and introducing travel restrictions and quarantines would impose major damage on society, markets, and public health.
