[nwallin]

I mostly agree with you.

One caveat though is that airborne diseases spread much more rapidly and are much more difficult to prevent than other forms of transmission.

Diseases that spread by skin to skin contact (smallpox, for instance) almost universally have visible signs before they're contagious. This makes quarantining easier.

Diseases that spread via contaminated drinking water (cholera) can almost always be stopped by boiling water or iodine tablets. And developed nations have well established ways of ensuring clean drinking water.

Diseases that spread via blood or other bodily fluids (Ebola, HIV) can be stopped by well established sanitary procedures.

Diseases that are not airborne simply don't have the potential to cause the damage covid has already caused, to say nothing of the total damage when it's all over.