Its match day, but, quickly, there is much to unpackage with respect to laying blame at the foot of the public health response. Part of the unpackaging, from my perspective, would involve public health messaging vs a counteracting infodemic. For example, just yesterday, rehashed data where some Twitter doctor says "Hey vaxx not working" but just a 5 min look at the underlying numbers in a table that most will never both to look at shows vaxx with a 2.5X protective effect over unvaxxed. Another part would involve public heath measures being but forth as some form of tyranny akin to rounding people up into gas chambers. And so forth. In the end it would distill towards having a government that is effective as our fragmentation allows us to have. And partisan arguments ensue as to which side is to blame. whatever. But from a strict epidemiological standpoint our inability to act rapidly and collectively cost lives early on and continues to do so now. For a bIt while longer but this is mostly done at this point. Our division was a form of weakness the virus could exploit. But it is also a form of weakness that can be exploited by other actors, and, as I see it, that's just getting started. So ultimately, in this country with so many advantages, it's on us. Was the human costs of the pandemic worth pursuing our little excercise in social disfunction? I'd say the answer appears to be yes.