Sorry, you missed my subtext here... They weren't
really "staying in". They likely weren't disinfecting the surfaces of their house regularly either, or turning their doorway into a mud room-come-airlock. In other words, they were quarantining themselves incorrectly out of ignorance.
It is a FACT that if you are infected, then staying locked down means you are a lot less likely to spread the disease to other people.
It is also a FACT that if you don't want to catch the disease, staying locked down and avoiding contact with people is the best way to do that.
Nothing is going to change these facts.
Q.E.D.
I have spent a lot of time doing stats over the years, and I agree with this, but I ask you very sincerely, have you truly displayed this same critical function of removing bias in the formation of your own opinions? I ask this because you seem far too certain in your opinions, and that cries out "bias" to me.
The science of quarantines is well established, but we as US citizens haven't had to face a quarantine for a very long time, and we are a complacent society that favors convenience over conscientiousness 9 times in 10, so is it so very surprising that people who have neglected their education for most of their lives are getting it so wrong?
Now admittedly there can come a point when you say "I've seen enough", and can form what you consider to be an informed opinion, but have we actually reached that point? From what I can see, the quarantine has failed in much of the USA because people didn't trust the science, or didn't know the science, or couldn't keep themselves quarantined because they had no resources to fall back on. Government should have taken a far more active role from a far earlier time, but failed to do so until the situation was utterly out of control, and then has not gone the distance once what was necessary became apparent. The choice has been to feed the people to the virus and blame China. Now the blame China thing is fine, China is guilty, but the feeding people to the virus is a deliberate, bloody-handed and atrocious choice that the present administration is responsible for and must carry the blame for.
Trump richly deserves to be attacked for his incompetence and vicious disregard for the health and safety of the American people.
For the better part of February 2020 Trump claimed that Covid-19 was a hoax by the Democrats.
Trump calls Covid-19 a Democrat hoax
Next he claimed there would be a sudden and miraculous cure for Covid-19.
Trump says Miracle cure will happen
Then there was the CPAC scare, and suddenly, as it began to threaten them personally, the Reps began to take the matter more seriously.
CPAC story
Trump's response? Inject disinfectant:
Trump says people should inject disinfectant or scorch themselves with UV light
Then when armed maniacs stormed the Michigan Legislature
Gunmen in Michigan Legislature
Does Trump say things have gone too far? Nope, he supports the dangerous idiots.
Trump says protestors "very responsible".
Now the Republican Lincoln Institute blame Trump for his incompetence:
Lincoln Institute on Trump's mismanagement of Covid-19
Seriously, how much more incompetent could a leader possibly be? Why do you feel the need to defend this indefensible disgrace to the office of President AlienView? The man is a murderous catastrophe, brought to you by Putin, to undermine the USA in the most fundamental ways, and it has worked. There are now more dead US Citizens as a result of Trump's appalling mismanagement of Covid-19 than died in the Vietnam War, and that number is growing fast. Soon it will pass the number who died in the Civil War, and those numbers are likely to keep rising.
Opening the country up when we haven't even managed to perform a proper quarantine in the first place is so far beyond stupid it is Goddamn unbelievable. We have more than a million people infected while quarantine has (sort of) been in place. The minute everyone returns to work, our great nation is going to get sick in a much bigger way than anybody has thought possible. We are talking about millions dead, and no exaggeration. Why? Because at the moment the health system can (just barely) cope with the dangerously ill c-19 patients coming in, but when the quarantine is lifted, that number will
explode. Presently, our recovery rate is only slightly better than 2 out of 3 recovering after being tested. Now I know there is a hidden stat that there are MANY more infected than are being tested, but we have already lost way too many people to be taking this in the disinterested fashion that Trump has been doing.
Now the fact is that the Constitution protects your freedom of assembly, and if you want to go out and get sick, risking death, that is your choice. I won't be making that choice myself however.