If you look at the flu seasons, I think one of the lessons is that relatively modest behavioral and infrastructural changes could radically reduce harm from res

If you look at the flu seasons, I think one of the lessons is that relatively modest behavioral and infrastructural changes could radically reduce harm from respiration-transmitted diseases. However I think it's a lesson that went mostly unlearned. The future I was expecting was a strong increase in ventilation, widespread adoption of CO2 measurements in public spaces (in the same way we measure temperature and humidity now), and experiments with things like UV to reduce disease particle viability. Along with behavioral changes, like staying home when sick, some continued use of masking, and use of mRNA techniques so people get something like quarterly vaccines that cover all the diseases we're trying to keep in check. What I instead got was an anti-science politicization of reasonable public health measures that 20 years ago would have been inconceivable. And then a giant collective shrug where we see plenty of ongoing death and a continuing rise of long Covid such that we have millions partly or wholly disabled. Including with brain fog, a symptom that I, as a programmer, would fine particularly devastating.