EXCELLENT! Absolutely correct! One thing you said I hadn’t considered before and is a brilliant observation.
“Lots of people were going to self-isolate anyway, to an economy-damaging degree.”
I was never told by ANYONE to lock down. We did it all on our own! We saw what was happening and said why risk others or ourselves? We immediately quit our two card clubs, stopped going out to dinner (4 or 5 times a week), My wife quit her sewing/quilt groups, we abstained from going to church, (our pastor wisely cancelled in house church services, stopped all unnecessary in store shopping, reduced grocery shopping to ONE store Walmart, using the self checkout, interacting with NO ONE!
So, I agree, a slump in the economy was inevitable. You would think the “herd immunity” people prefer the immediate total economic shutdown to a slower lowering of the economic curve.
No, we prefer that individuals and businesses make their own decisions. Individual planning beats central planning every time. People and businesses will innovate and find successful ways to avoid the virus while participating in the economy and society. And people will be able to judge whether they are truly vulnerable or not and how much risk they should take. A one size fits all policy is absurd.
Quite. The only official step that was a factor: school closing.
Yes the state issued “state of emergency” and “shelter in place” orders, but frankly - most didn’t care. We all just stopped congregating. It was only the ending of compulsory attendance in the viral stewpot of public schools that actually changed anything, it did give everyone a simultaneous tipping point.
If you WANT to go socialize, few locales will stop you.