[usrusr]

Urban centers used to have kids congregating in non-purpose built places all the time, before that was all stratified away. That's precisely what GP was saying I think.

#2 wasn't about suppressing the virus to zero (true, no place succeeded at, not even China), it as about avoiding long stretches of strong countermeasures by applying lighter countermeasures earlier. They still required some escalation for maybe a few weeks but that's far from what people had who had to dig themselves out from underneath a massive wave they ran into at full speed.

[bpodgursky]

I understand what you are claiming, but it's a narrative not based on what actually happened.

The places that locked down earlier stayed locked down, and the places that locked down later re-opened earlier. No state stayed locked down to "dig themselves out of a hole"; that's not how any of the waves played out.

[_y5hn]

Whole countries locked down earlier, cutting the waves and death count to negligible numbers. They opened up in summer 2020, but later closed early again.