Lockdown galore

With Finland declaring a state of emergency and Oslo closing down all restaurants and shops, the third wave is definitely here. Even at our local COOP, we are no longer the only people wearing face masks so change is clearly underway. At the same time, more people are still dying from the economic effects of lockdown than from Covid itself (though one should recognize that deaths would presumably been higher had restrictions not be imposed). In retrospect it is interesting to note how different the response to this pandemic has been compared to past ones, as illustrated by this telling Google search:

In defence of the present, one may argue that it is a good thing that we value life so much more today and that Covid with its cluster transmission would always be different from a wave-like flu that would quickly dissipate afterwards.