One other thing to note - our ability to lockdown and maintain a functional society was contingent on the ability for enough (privileged) people to work from home that the internet has now afforded us. A few decades ago our world looked and worked very differently, and the pandemic response would have differed accordingly; if lockdowns might have actually had a direct material impact on the intelligentsia, managerial class, liberal elite, etc. or cost them their homes or their jobs, there would have been far less of a push for lockdowns.

Naturally, the working class still got screwed - either you're "non-essential" and lost your job or were "essential" and ran a risk of contracting COVID that your overlords got to avoid from the comfort of their own home - but it might've helped slow the spread of the virus, some.