This is so unsatisfying, they are basically concluding that it's unknowable. Not even estimatable. That means there is no expertise. Then what's the point, of you existing? Give us our money back and go work at Walmart, experts. It boils my blood to see so much tax payer money spent on so little. We spent billions to be told its unknowable, and that we don't have enough masks. I wish my job had such little accontability and oversight. And zero consequence for naked unpreparedness. I understand that laypeople couldn't see this coming, but we paid a ton of money for experts, so surely the experts could see it coming. If not then we deserve a refund.

I suspect your sentiment is why so many people accept confident predictions from blowhards who don't actually know/care how complicated the real world is. Maybe it's more comforting to listen to people who pretend to have the answers, but it doesn't help for making good decisions.

Personally, I think the accountability and oversight should be applied to the asshats who say exaggerated things with certainty. Yet for some reason, those people get a pass because "they were using the best information at the time" etc... It's doubly frustrating when they say, "Yeah, it wasn't so bad because you listened to me".

You're both correct

". . . like a hoard of suburbanites descending on a grocery store's toilet paper aisle." Should be "horde" but somehow "hoard" works better here . . .