Isn't it wonderful when you build models that already assume your policies worked without having to prove they actually work before using it to make epidemiological projections to ''prove'' you saved lives?

Maby compare to countries that didn't lockdown, over the course of several cycles, to test your hypothesis?

Over the course of the pandemic, the ''old demographic'' country which had the lowest excess mortality was Sweden.

No lockdown, no masks, schools open. All of the draconian policies totally failed, and caused more deaths.

The single exception potentially effective policy was total border closure ; something that has to be maintained forever otherwise you get hit with the same bugs and deaths as elsewhere when you open. The longer you closed, the more you get hit with all at once.

( And you'll still get the usual waves of already-existing viruses endemic to your country. )

And when a single migrant sneaks in while incubating a sniffles, all of that goes to shit.