I think it's probably fair that when this is all presumably past, we'll conclude that some of the measures that we took and that many feel very strongly about weren't super-effective. (And a lot of it boils down to dumb luck.) On the other hand, there have been mitigating measures to some degree in most places so I can't seriously argue that we should have just have said "screw it. Let's just pretend that everything's normal." and act accordingly.

LA and Miami have similar # of deaths to covid while LA has way more restrictions. The difference? The difference? The restrictions can't stop the spread of a respiratory disease. They never could. We just copied China on the masks, social distancing, and lockdowns. That's it. Virus gonna virus whatever you do.

I used to live in LA and people really flouted the restrictions. They worked in China because the Chinese actually followed them.

I currently live in a SE asian country w/ very few covid deaths and few restrictions. The most likely reason is prior immunity due to exposure to other coronaviruses.

My family and friends in LA are all wearing masks and social distancing. Doesn't seem to be making a big diff.