Multiply my story by the hundreds of thousands of patrons of their favorite store, bar, restaurant or coffee shop all over the City — and the hardworking owners of these establishments who poured their souls, lives, and savings into them — and you have a partial measure of the human cost, not just of Covid, but of the draconian lockdown policy and the other death-by-a-thousand-cuts regulations that have magnified its harm.

If these officials had our best interests in mind, instead of treating us like children or animals upon whom arbitrary punishment is inflicted in order to obtain obedience, they would contemplate the real problem and narrowly tailor solutions, taking into consideration the impact of any new policies on the population at large. That includes the economic and psychological consequences of lockdowns, mask mandates, and enforced social distancing. Positive PCR tests are not the only thing in the world that matters.

As cities and states ease their lockdowns and restrictions, the Fed should continue to support the recovery with accommodative monetary policy. As Powell described, "A full economic recovery is unlikely until people are confident that it is safe to reengage in a broad range of activities."

On economic well-being, it’s clear that a country with an invasively large government sector and extraordinarily high taxes can still perform well. In the corona debates, the simplified story that lockdowns prevent spread and open societies kill people should be relegated to the dustbin of impressive theories at odds with reality.

Governor Ron DeSantis has proven it: it is actually possible for a politician to wise up and do the right thing. In a sweeping order announced September 25, the governor has opened up the entire economy. He has even limited the ability of local governments to impose more restrictions and collect fines for mask violations.

Governor Baker and the expert teams in statehouses across the country must find ways to give more small businesses the flexibility to solve the problems that state commissions both cannot and should never have tried to solve.

Governor Newsom claims the right to dictate what sort of new cars Californians can buy, but not until 2035. When 2035 arrives, a different California Governor and legislature will surely ignore Newsom’s political time bomb. For one state to switch to electric cars would be demonstrably irrelevant to global warming, but not to the right of that state’s consumers to spend their earnings as they wish.

Governments are fully capable of doing the unthinkable, and doing so suddenly with no exit plan, little consideration of cost, and a callous disregard for individual rights.

Our civilization is threatened not by this virus, but by deeply flawed reasoning in how it ought to be managed. Unless we make clear to our politicians and our fellow citizens that they are wrong, and that our ability to engage in activities and pursuits that are critical to our well-being is not negotiable, we run the risk of leading this diminished existence for the remainder of our lives.

A news outlet that posted a bond with a third party that would be forfeited if it insisted on publishing anything factually wrong, or crossed the line between journalism and punditry, could create the sort of trust that people once had in the New York Times and other papers of record, all of which essentially posted informal bonds backed by their reputations and expected future profitability.