But people have been getting sick as long as there have been people, and civilization was somehow able to deal with it until two years ago.
This is the first widespread pandemic in most of our lifetimes, but definitely not the first one. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1920 was much worse and disruptive than this.
People will locally optimize in the absence of government intervention, which means lockdown-like conditions are inevitable as people simply stop going to work in large enough numbers they cannot be replaced.
We could go back to what they did in 1347, during the Bubonic plague, and cover our bodies in a robe from head to toe and wear beaked masks stuffed with herbs, spices and straws to filter the air, and examine people using only a cane to keep their distance, like doctors did back then.
https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/whats-viral...
Maybe another version of OWS is coming, hopefully one that actually results in change and doesn't get co-opted by stupid identity politics this time around.
For better or worse, the way the laws in America are written, violence is the way we deal with problems. When someone who desires an outcome can use violent means to get you there, the second amendment ensures you have violent means to resist them.
Yeah, a lot of it has moved to delivery apps. Which represents a fundamental realignment of large segments of our economy. I personally believe this was always going to happen anyway, but the pandemic forced it so quickly a lot of people haven’t realized we’re never going back.
The actual problem is that blue collar workers aren’t getting paid enough to risk getting Covid. So as much as you might want to go out and re-create a feeling of “normal”, that doesn’t work if people aren’t showing up to work because they’re sick.
The lockdowns let us blame the government, but individuals are making decisions about their own health and service levels suffer as a result. And in many cases, the risk of getting sick and permanently disabled (yes omicron still has long-term side effects) is not worth $10/hr. We still effectively have lockdowns with many stores and restaurants closed, they’re just driven by low customer traffic or worker call-outs.
Never mind that a lot of people’s buying habits have changed to purchasing more online and via delivery — it’s convenient enough I don’t think we’re ever going back. Same with remote work; city centers are never going to open back up the way they used to be if the wealthy parts of their workforce are working from home. Remote work is here to stay. It is the norm already and companies trying to force workers back are having extreme turnover issues.
Unless you’re planning to compel workers back to their jobs at the end of a gun, we’re probably not going back to the version normal we had in 2019 ever again. We’ll eventually hit another island of stability, but given the political situation and immediacy of climate change effects, we will probably be jumping from crisis to crisis for the rest of our lives. Get used to it.