Depression causes more lost life years than cancer, AIDs, and war combined (without even accounting for how depression can cause things like alcoholism and heart disease) (source: The Noonday Demon). So it's not unreasonable to guess that the increased anxiety and depression from quarantining could be much more detrimental in terms of years lost in aggregate.
For a personal anecdote, my grandfather who was in a nursing home died during the pandemic. It wasn't from covid-19 but I certainly think the quarantine accelerated his death (and prevented any family members from seeing him in his last days even after trying desperately).
I know it's easy for someone young like me to say this, not being in much personal danger from exposure. But I do think we need to really look at indirect damages of quarantining. We may find that the American left has had the morals of this situation all wrong.
Depression causes more lost life years than cancer, AIDs, and war combined (without even accounting for how depression can cause things like alcoholism and heart disease) (source: The Noonday Demon). So it's not unreasonable to guess that the increased anxiety and depression from quarantining could be much more detrimental in terms of years lost in aggregate.
For a personal anecdote, my grandfather who was in a nursing home died during the pandemic. It wasn't from covid-19 but I certainly think the quarantine accelerated his death (and prevented any family members from seeing him in his last days even after trying desperately).
I know it's easy for someone young like me to say this, not being in much personal danger from exposure. Also, I do think we were rational to lock down early on when we didn't know much about the virus. But I do think we need to really attempt to quantify the indirect damages of quarantining vs not at this point. We may find that the morals of the American left don't match the reality.