When imposing a pandemic lockdown, promises matter

In March 2020, President Donald Trump and Anthony Fauci
stepped to the White House podium to ask Americans for 15
days to slow the spread. It was the first of many
less-than-durable pandemic promises.

As the waves of COVID-19 rose and fell, elected and public
health officials frequently changed their messages and
restrictions on economic activity. Some governors who
initially resisted lockdown measures reversed
course. Others renewed open-ended lockdowns that became
entangled in state politics: In the Minneapolis Fed's
Ninth District, Minnesota's governor extended his
emergency declaration 14 times, before lifting it as part
of a deal to secure Senate passage of a state budget. In
Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court ultimately refereed
bitter disputes between the governor and the Legislature.

поначалу все политики обещали
не больше, чем 2-3 недели локдауна,
"flatten the curve", потом продлевали "еще месяц",
все это по требованию международных наблюдателей
потом пол-страны заболевало ковидом, и тут локдаун
отменяли, потому что не смешно уже

в Перу и Аргентине это заняло почти год