The Cathedral has literally sacrificed an entire generation of people, and for what?

Control. For a big chunk of the population, they've now normalized "oh, here comes another crisis! So, for the next few months this is what you're allowed to wear and not wear, this is where you're allowed to go/not go, these are what businesses are allowed to stay open and these are what need to close" and more. So, they can keep doing it in perpetuity unless there is a large uprising from the population (and given the number of Karens about, that seems unlikely)