Many are understandably tired of lockdowns/restrictions, but they often respond with the notion that COVID is no big deal & a laissez-faire policy would be best. I think such views—as well as those of hardcore lockdown supporters who pin the blame on individuals—have bought into

...dishonest false binaries presented by Democrats & Republicans for how to respond to the pandemic. What authoritarian liberal controls on interaction & lassaiz-faire conservative solutions to them share is the assumption that the state cannot exert effort or spend money on a...

comprehensive response to the pandemic. Neither side recognizes this as a realistic option, & when they do it's only to propagandize about how the other side blew it. Whether it be Dems pushing for the slowest possible rollout of a vaccine or Reps pretending the state can't blunt

...the economic fallout of COVID restrictions far more than it has, both parties have adopted a cynical fatalism in the face of crisis.

What could disrupt the false binaries presented to Americans is to look at recent vigorous responses to COVID in Slovakia and Qingdao, China.

The central European country of Slovakia & the Chinese metropolis Qingdao both recently addressed COVID in a way more active & less crude than the American lockdown VS let it rip approaches. They decided to test the majority of their entire populations for COVID over a few days.

Those who test positive in the national/city-wide testing drives in Slovakia & Qingdao are made to quarantine for a few days, while others who test negative can go about their lives more normally. There is no reason why this regimen of mass testing can't be repeated as needed...

That would allow things to remain open, ending the need for more general & severe restrictions, while targeting the infected population more accurately than other approaches.

The US is far richer than Slovakia or China. The US has a far more capable pharmaceutical industry than either of those countries. The US spends far more on healthcare than either of them & has more health facilities per capita. As such, mass testing in the US could be carried...

out more easily in the US than in Qingdao or Slovakia—if only there were political will. Sadly, both major US parties are so plagued by neoliberalism that such big concerted state-led action can't be allowed no matter how damaging the alternative is to business in the short run!