The scientists and epidemiologists directing COVID policy claim there is substantial evidence to support mitigation policies, such as social distancing, mask mandates, and school closures. To be sure, laboratory studies (and common sense) show that people cannot infect each other if sufficiently separated and that masks greatly reduce airborne virus. The real world is messy and complicated though: law-abiding citizens with the best of intentions do not always follow guidelines, masks slip off noses, people touch their face reflexively, etc. When considering the net outcome of these lockdown-lite mitigation policies, there is little evidence to suggest that they did much beyond delay waves of infections (e.g., California appeared to do better than Florida initially, owing to more extreme restrictions in California, but eventually these two states ended up with similar COVID death rates even though California did substantially more damage to its economy, mental health of its citizens, and education of its children).
Source: Pandemic Fears: When the ‘availability heuristic’ meets ‘belief bias’ | Covid Balance
