[mint2]

That’s a big oversimplification of what people were worried about during the prior years.

While taking substantial precautions to limit the spread there was that many deaths and hospitals were on the brink of collapse. More spread would have started a terrible rationing of care leading to a much higher spike in excess mortality, especially in immune naive populations.

Now despite almost everyone moving on from precautions, due to substantial immunity, we’re no longer on the precipice of spiraling out of control.

Yeah it’s not nearly as newsworthy because we’re not on the edge of a cliff anymore. It wasn’t just the death rate, it was the way it could have exploded.

[strawberryfie]

That’s a hard argument to make, at least here in the UK, because it looks like the strain of restarting normal healthcare with a 2+ year backlog of untreated health issues will doom the NHS.

Also - you can argue that fewer covid precautions may have resulted in a collapsed healthcare system. However, in reality, the NHS occupancy rates for 2020-2021 were double-digit less than previous years.