The next govt will be a National govt...

[C_T_Russell]

I personally know people who have suffered depression due to almost loosing their business and are near suicide.
All for a virus that has a mortality rate well under 1% in most developed countries.
The social cost is far worse and is still going to hurt us years into the future.
The countries that let it run rampant have gotten over it much earlier and couldnt care less anymore.

The US was probably one of the countries that suffered the greatest loss of life and economic health by letting COVID19 "run rampant" and they are now implementing economic measures to solve the results of that approach which is shaking other country's economic situations severely. NZ and many other countries are looking down the barrel of massive inflationary pressures due to the US's poor management of the last few years' events. We are far from being over the effects of COVID19 on many fronts (e.g. long COVID, struggling businesses, lifestyle changes) but at least our own government implemented measures that drastically limited the immediate health impacts of COVID19.

Imagine for a moment that we had suffered a 1% mortality rate. That's 50,000 lives. Are you really suggesting that we would be in a better situation if NZ had taken the largely uncontrolled approach that some countries did? Really!?

We have probably lost(or will loose) that many or more from the vaccine anyway, I have a relative that dropped dead (sudden adult death syndrome?) perfectly fit and healthy, the doctors "think" it was his heart that gave out, but they didnt perform any form of autopsy to figure out the cause of death.
1% mortality rate was probably the worst case for an outbreak of the original Alpha strain, and mostly with elderly people with serious health conditions, notice why all the rest homes had the most fatalities, e.g rosewood, while virtually no cases in MIQ ever dies from covid?
I know things were bad in the US, but were still bad in Australia and Europe too.

NZ had some of the toughest restrictions, but our main advantage was we were an isolated country landlocked at sea.

I personally know people who have suffered depression due to almost loosing their business and are near suicide.
All for a virus that has a mortality rate well under 1% in most developed countries.
The social cost is far worse and is still going to hurt us years into the future.
The countries that let it run rampant have gotten over it much earlier and couldnt care less anymore.

I don't think anyone can argue with the large number of the worlds population that actually died, somewhere north of 6.5 million people... 
I also don't think any sane person will argue that the number wouldn't have been magnitudes higher had all countries allowed it to just run rampant.

But I would suggest that the countries that did let it run rampant either couldn't care less in the first place about covid or their citizens,  and/or they didn't have the resources available to actually deal with it.  

Yes there will always be some social costs in a global pandemic, but the greater good is all that matters in the end...

6.5 million people is not much at all, we loose that each year just with the flu.

This "greater good" thing really gets to me, much like the vaccine. All for the "greater good" but too bad if you die or receive life long health effects from that jab.

Kinda reminds me of this scene from hot fuzz!