“And yes — pikuach nefesh (saving lives) overrides jobs!”
I do believe lockdowns and restrictions do have a role in managing the pandemic. However, your comment is short sighted. I spent the summer rotating at an inpatient psychiatric unit in NY. The number of previously stable people (prior to the pandemic) who needed to be admitted because they lost their jobs, life savings, etc was not to be believed. Off the top of my head I can think of close to 10 who attempted suicide and bh failed. This obviously doesnt include the people who never made it to my unit because they were unfortunately successful. Consistently well over 20% of the daily patient were admitted because they couldn’t access their normal out patient psychiatric care, resulting in them relapsing and requiring hospitalization. So while you may be correct that pikuach nefesh overrides jobs, taking away people’s jobs can and does lead to sakanas nifashos.