Did Lockdowns and Social Distancing Really Save Us?

How Panic, Moral Certainty, and a Lack of Debate Cost Us More Than We Admit

In early 2020, I was sitting in a constitutional law lecture at Allard Hall when my phone lit up: Mysterious novel virus in Wuhan, China. Like everyone else, I assumed it would pass. Instead, the months ahead became a moral stress test for Western society — one we largely failed.

We like to tell ourselves that when a crisis hits, we rise to the occasion.…