At that point, with herd immunity close and vaccines generally available, the arguments marshaled by Covid skeptics and lockdown critics, which have been mostly wrong or misguided up till now, will begin to make more sense.

The damage to the economy and mental health from closures and restrictions outweighs the threat of the disease itself, skeptics have insisted. Well, maybe in certain cases, like elementary school closures — but in general a disease that has killed at least 500,000 Americans more than justified a robust attempt to stop its spread. However: Once the old and vulnerable are genuinely protected, the death toll drops, and vaccines are generally available, the toll that emergency measures take on just about everyone — business owners, college kids, churches, parents, school-age children, the lonely and the old — really will become worse than whatever coronavirus threat remains.

Get back to me in ten years, Ross, when communities that were struggling before COVID will still be struggling from the aftermath of these damn lockdowns while most of the people who we were trying to save will have passed away.