Or people were managing their own risks. I got vaxxed and followed mandates while they were in place, but as soon as my area relaxed things, I went back to life as normal, as did a majority of people. But I knew and interacted with people who didn’t mask and didn’t get vaccinated, and while I disagree with their risk assessment, I didn’t treat them as outcasts or murderers, nor did I advocate for them to be banned from the public sphere. Fortunately, I live somewhere that is more balanced in their approach, and just had mandates and lockdown to curb earlier waves prior to the vaccines. Which suits my risk assessment and most people where I live. The ones who complain tend to be rather politically motivated to the left, but most of them stopped following recommendations after a while.

I think back to the big controversies over athletes like Kyrie Irving and Novak Djokovic, and I never understood how they were a risk warranting that kind of response. That’s where the anti-anti-vaxxers look authoritarian.