It was never tenable.
>>It was proof that lockdowns and masks could have ended the pandemic
Research in January of 2020 indicated that the virus was known to species hop with ease.
Research also indicated there was ample evidence of animal population reservoirs of virus.
Thus, any lockdown of human populations, even quarantining us to different planets, would be irrelevant. Animal populations would function as reservoirs that will bring the virus back to a stage of infecting us as soon as we come out of hiding.
>>if they had been implemented rigorously and early enough.
This is a completely bonkers view point (as it has no basis in science) and it is sadly the view of many people who have been conditioned to believe authority figures are infallible.
>> irritating things is that a lot of people who now claim mask mandates and lockdowns don't work were also the people who were sabotaging them, and they failed in large part because of that sabotage.
The virus is airborne. It travels between 27-42 feet in the air. Proper PPE in the quantities needed does not exist.
Social distancing at 6 feet? Pseudoscientific recommendation coming from pre-covid infection control practices designed to prevent the spread of influenza droplets (which are known to travel less than six feet).
Paper masks? Cloth masks? Pseudoscientific recommendation coming from a government wanting to be percieved as doing something. Every professional knows none of that gear is rated or known to stop viral transmission. Even a properly used N95 has a very short lifespan proportionate to the electric charge on the cloth material (which can fade after minutes of use, at which point, when the charged sides of the mask lose their charge, the filtration of viral particles ends despite the masks bulkier size).
>>Locking people in their homes, welding them into prisons, shooting people who violate curfew? etc??
Draconian, pseudoscientific shit that has no place in any society or civilization. It also didn't work.
In all societies, regardless of these pseudoscientific measures being implemented or not, the virus still spread.
I guess you can use the virus as fuel for your hatred of some political adversary and scapegoat them for the virus. Apes and authoritarians have been doing that for all of human history with many different viruses.
>> About me?
Come from a family of doctors. Ran a team at a viral research lab in a very relevant country. Have done graduate study in virology. Have attended various infection control and pandemic response seminars prior to the pandemic. Have dealt with SARS and MERS in person prior to covid.
I, like many others, have had these positions since January 2020. Educated professionals who talk of facts are constantly silenced or bullied or threatened by authoritarian systems.
I do not matter and my background does not give my comments merit. The comments more or less stand on their own.