Covid Lockdowns Were a Giant Experiment. It Was a Failure | Hacker News Reader

Covid Lockdowns Were a Giant Experiment. It Was a Failure

nymag.com

22 pointsEvgeniyZh12 comments

Here in Melbourne we experienced six lockdowns, totalling 262 days, with 111 days being the longest consecutive stretch. At times we couldn’t travel for more than 5km from home, and only for certain government sanctioned reasons.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-03/melbourne-longest-loc...

Initially I agreed with the approach given the fragility of our hospital system, the escalation in cases, and the lack of a vaccine. However, this was not without personal cost — once the longest lockdown was over, it was clear that most people psychologically struggled to transition back to pre-lockdown norms. My youngest child had the hardest time of all of us physically re-engaging with others in society.

Was it worth it? Perhaps. Did it cost us? Absolutely.

Based on the latest data & research I would argue that it was not worth it. It was a test for governments how far they can go and we are back to pre-Nuremberg levels. Big pharma came out victorious (again) having insane profits while providing a half-assed solution. And we are ok with this.

Here in the kingdom of Sweden our 4 kids does not even know that covid happen since their lifes was not affected one bit. A society that cares for the old over the young has truely lost its way and is imo suicidal. Not destroying the lives of the young is worth billions of grannies that has had their go at life, squezzing out a few years at the end at the cost of the children is imoral and evil, we where not even close to a sacrifice to big here or anywhere else.

In this part of the kingdom of Sweden, our kids were affected.

They couldn't spend time at the library (max 15 minute visits), they couldn't go to the local science center (closed), they couldn't go to the small farm that the city runs (closed for visitors), and they couldn't go to a visitor center usually open in summer and with the only toilets near a water-themed playground they enjoy.

It was an utter failure, but worse is how it tore at the fabric of our society. Suddenly, everyone who desired a little bit of power became a COVID hall monitor. I remember the police accosting a man who was exercising alone on the beach. Hotlines to report Neighbors. It was utterly disgusting and driven by the government. Covid evaporated what a little faith and trust I had left in government.

Which country was this?

At least it showed the world another way to work. Before covid requesting to WFH was viewed as being lazy, while today I won't even consider a position that isn't remote first.

As someone that was pushing for remote work long before covid I'm very happy it happened.

This is affecting a fraction of workers. Companies provided home office before that. In 2006 I was working remote with IBM. The interesting part is not remote vs on-site but open office vs limited noise & interruption office. There is also a question if this concentrated way of working, having most of the employees working from few locations are the sane way going forward or having a distributed set of smaller offices with people who's work overlaps would be a better option. We are so desperate to reduce CO2 with all sorts of hoops but ignore the huge saving potential of converting on-site work to something more optimal. Based on my anecdata it would be also significantly cheaper.

I'm not willing to abuse children in exchange for getting to show up to zoom calls instead of the office.

You can WFH without abusing children (I don't even see what you mean here) or using Zoom (you absolutely shouldn't because of their terms).

I think he meant that "it showed the world another way to work" (what op said) was not worth the cost of the lockdown (ie. "abuse children")

Perhaps I speak with too much hyperbole

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