The other course of action was what South Korea did: mass testing and contact tracing. South Korea didn't lock down the entire society. As for getting a handle

The other course of action was what South Korea did: mass testing and contact tracing. South Korea didn't lock down the entire society. As for getting a handle on the virus, it's entirely possible that only herd immunity will do that, and the countries delaying that happening with lockdowns are just delaying the inevitable while incurring unnecessary economic damage in the process.