In the United States, Covid-19 appears to have increased the death rate back to the levels of the 1990s. If you remember the 1990s as a cruel period where life was short, nasty and brutish, you can appreciate the wisdom of the governments policies. Unlike most serious epidemics in the past, but like almost all serious diseases, Covid-19 strikes hardest as those whose lives were already coming to an end meaning that but for the government, the economic impact would have been negligible. The damages on people’s careers and children’s education came from the politicians, not a virus. If there ever is a real epidemic (something similar to Ebola or a new version of smallpox or plague), the measures taken for Covid-19 will prove to be useful, but most people will ignore them (the “boy who cried wolf” phenomena).
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