In the early months of 2020 state and federal authorities implemented a massively restrictive collection of guidelines and orders which authorities claimed were to prevent spread of COVID, but which resulted in the restriction of all citizens except “essential workers” to their homes, the closure of more than 2.7 million shuttered businesses, and the permanent shuttering of more than 100,000 small businesses, the deep wounding of the American economy and the destruction of the social fabric of the citizenry through stay-at-home orders, masking, and restriction of public and private gatherings. The fear was palpable among the population, with some individuals driven to turn on their neighbors and other citizens for rule infractions—the so-called “Karens” who aggressively enforced COVID-era policies and mandates.