The economic hurt was and is self inflicted. Shutting down the economy was a hysterical overreaction. Keeping it closed is beyond reason. Time to open up
I agree, but initially it was driven by the unknown nature of what we were dealing with. The Chinese government was very stealth about the virus, and thus there were a lot of stories about how hundreds of thousands were dying in China, and about how the Chinese government was literally welding the doors of buildings in Wuhan shut - to force quarantine.
Further, as an MD you know that a fair number of patients, particularly early on, were developing ARDS and dying on ventilators. And, although most patients who die are from vulnerable groups, not all are, and healthy young people in their 20s and 30s also died (A fact. I saw some of them.). All of those things contributed to the perception that we were dealing with a uniquely deadly pathogen.
We've also learned a lot over the past several months, and I think we are much better at treating Covid now - including how to treat those patients who do develop a severe systemic inflammatory response.
So, I agree we overreacted, but I understand why. That the left is pushing for further shut-downs is political, and shouldn't happen.