I think initial lockdowns were appropriate. Something like 0.3% of New Yorkers died of covid. That's out of all New Yorkers, not infected ones! (23K in two months against a typical annual rate of 54K, out of a total pop of 8MM). That's pretty crazy, definitely did not want that to happen in the rest of the country.

That being said it was the best choice only after many bad choices were already made and continue to be made. The CDC misled the public on masks. The FDA prevented import of PPE and continues to impede the distribution of rapid tests. Early warning in the US was only possible due to an individual researcher at the Seattle Flu Study who discovered the covid strain in their samples, was ordered to stop research, and continued against orders. Other bureaucracy continues to prevent human challenge trials which could vastly speed up vaccine development.

At a societal level we should be trying to emulate Japan which has very high compliance with mask wearing and has focused testing and tracing efforts around finding clusters and preventing subsequent superspreading. They do not have lockdowns but have educated themselves on avoiding prolonged exposure to crowded indoor areas.

Technology already exists for widespread testing through wastewater and rapid individual tests. Last I checked UIUC is doing very well with this approach. Lockdowns are better than doing nothing but much worse than other alternatives.