this will backfire on politicians. the "better safe than sorry" line of reasoning is deeply flawed thinking. it's a way to absolve politicians of the hard job

this will backfire on politicians. the "better safe than sorry" line of reasoning is deeply flawed thinking. it's a way to absolve politicians of the hard job of finding the best answer, the best tradeoff. cutting off the extrema works in the confines of mathematical optimization, but in real, human systems, hitting an extreme in one dimension is never the right answer. the system is infinitely faceted and exponentially interrelated. for the general population, rather than lockdown, it would have been easy to start back in early march with two simple rules: 1) physically distance, _or_ wear a mask when inside public spaces (which implies no large gatherings), and 2) if you're sick or have co-morbidities, self-quarantine. as time went on, you could then deal with the harder edge cases like schools (in socal, you could have "classrooms" out on playgrounds and fields under large tents if necessary). instead politicians have painted themselves into a corner and can't find their way out.