So here's how things were done in France, and why lockdowns are (conditionally) necessary :<br>There were several lockdowns, as early as march 2020, that were almost complete, quite severe. <br>Children went back to school quickly enough, because after the first lockdown we realized that it was having a terrible impact on their scholarity and other detrimental effects.<br>Then things gradually evolved as more data arrived and as the waves of the epidemy came and went.<br>The reason why we went in lockdown at first, was to try to prevent the epidemy from spreading, letting it disappear. That did not happen.<br>But the following lockdowns were about "flattening the curve" making sure the hospitals had enough places," enough beds and respirators and enough nurses and people to run the hospitals.<br>This is crucial when you talk about lockdowns and absolutely has to be in the conversation (not talked about once (i'm at <a href=""https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIOGUYOPAsA&amp;t=1m35s"">1:35</a> in the video rn)).<br>If you look at how things went in many countries", hospitals were filled to the brim with covid patients, and the medical staff had to work even crazier hours to barely manage and sometimes they couldn't do a good job at taking care of people because there were just so fucking many.<br>So if you argue that we went too far with "complete" lockdowns, when the hospitals were filled to the brims with patients (in many country) what sense do you make ? Less strict restrictions would have allowed the virus to contaminate more people, causing more death, more hospitalizations, people unable to enter the hospitals and being treated. And while lockdown did cause damage, more deaths is arguably worse.<br><br>And here's the thing that will be a punch to the gut for many Americans. <br>While more than 20 millions of Americans had lost their jobs in a month in April 2020, we mostly hadn't lost jobs. (some were lost but a fraction of what the USA lost).<br>The governement decided to pay for the salary of the employees who couldn't work remotely, something like 90%. <br>Every months. Protecting the jobs.<br>President Emmanuel Macron said they would protect our safety no matter what it cost.<br>The governement created loans without interests to allow companies to survive, and many other forms of help.<br><br>Lockdowns were the solutions to protect the citizen's lives in developed countries where there is an important fraction of the population that is elderly, and to prevent a collapse of the hospitals in those countries.<br>If you feel like there was a lack of financial protection of the citizen during the lockdowns in your country, ask yourself the right questions.<br><br>Obviously no solution was perfect, especially considering the lack of information we had. And it's probably not fair to give the impression we handled the pandemic perfectly, it certainly wasn't. But even if i could i certainly wouldn't go back in time and choose to run the experiment of Covid doing only "focused protection", not in America or Europe.<br><br>With that said, i do think the way Francis Collins handled himself is a disgrace. Fringe as they may be, ideas should be discussed in the open and education can be gained through the process.