This is yet another factor to consider yes. But this pales in comparison to the number of people whose mental health is being adversely affected by the lockdowns/social-isolation/climate-of-fear. Look at scope of the global mental health epidemic:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/23/pandemic-hits-...

I disagree. The fact that this is affecting healthcare workers makes it worse, because it reduces our ability to deal with the virus in the first place.

Any back of the envelope calculations showing how you reach the conclusion that this is worse than the harm the COVID control measures are doing?

How much harm do you think operating with 20% fewer healthcare personnel would cause? Put me down for that much.

Keep in mind, this isn't just 20% fewer people to deal with COVID, it's 20% fewer people to deal with, well, everything, for years to come. I'm sure someone's done the calculations on what the consequences of a decimated healthcare system are, if you want to go look for them.

I don't know, how much harm do you estimate that causes? Obviously it's harmful, but what we need to do is compare it to the enormous harm of lockdowns and other COVID control postures, some of which I've documented.

I don't see where you've documented anything any more thoroughly than I have. This is a web forum, not a policy paper. You gave your 2 links, and I gave you mine.

How much worse do you think everything you've listed would be if we had started with 20% fewer healthcare personnel? Well, guess what. That's how bad it will be from now on, because we couldn't all cooperate to take measures to ensure the healthcare system didn't get overwhelmed in the first place, and doesn't continue to get overwhelmed.

On the face of it, your example is dwarfed by mine. Healthcare workers make up only 0.5 percent of the population. That means the direct mental health effects of limitatons on civil/economic liberties via lockdowns are going to impact 200X more people than the direct mental health effects of more COVID ICU cases on healthcare workers.

That's why I asked how you could arrive at the converse conclusion that lockdowns are net beneficial for mental health.