Europe imposing lockdowns again. Could this help Trump?

[Middle-aged Europe]

"Europe is imposing lockdowns, that proves that lockdowns don't work" strikes me as curious kind of logic.

That's almost like saying "politicians want to put more police on the street, that proves that police doesn't work".

Of course the lockdowns worked, for a time. But then they were lifted which means the virus could spread more easily again. Lockdowns were always only a stop-gap measure until a vaccine arrives.

When the infection numbers go up, you impose the lockdown. Due to the lockdown, the numbers eventually fall. Because you don't want to burden society with a permanent lockdown, you lift it again as soon as the numbers are brought down in sufficient quantities. Eventually the infection numbers rise again though which means that in case that a vaccine hasn't been found in the meantime you may need another lockdown to buy yourself some more time.

Theoretically, Europe could have wiped out the virus already if they had kept up the lockdown for a couple more weeks or even months this spring. This is essentially what China did earlier. At the time when the lockdown was first gradually lifted in Germany sometime in late April a few experts had argued to that effect: that we could wipe out the virus entirely if we just keep on going for a little extra time. But, political and public pressure had become too strong at that point to give people back their freedom. Because unlike China, we weren't a dictatorship.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Government of Ireland listening to scientists. Imposes six weeks lockdown. Retail stores fear they will not survive.

There are extreme scientists out there and listening to them is not the smartest thing to do.

What the hell are "extreme" scientists? The opposite of "moderate" scientists who only adhere to scientific facts partially and/or occasionally? You whole line reasoning comes acoss as a tad more than anti-intellectual.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Government of Ireland listening to scientists. Imposes six weeks lockdown. Retail stores fear they will not survive.

There are extreme scientists out there and listening to them is not the smartest thing to do.

What the hell are "extreme" scientists? The opposite of "moderate" scientists who only adhere to scientific facts partially and/or occasionally? You whole line reasoning comes acoss as a bit more than anti-intellectual.

Extreme scientists are those who consider only one field - their field, without taking into consideration the effects of their proposed measures on other fields and the society as a whole.

Extremely stupid politicians are those who listen to these extreme scientists.

So, "extreme scientists" is a synonym for non-omnidisciplinary scientists? Only scientists who are both qualified virologists and economists at the same time would constitute "non-extreme" scientists in your opinion? Do you consider to that view to be particularly realistic?

It's certainly true that virologists are not economists and therefore don't provide any advice on economic matters. This is apparently where we disagree, because I don't think that it would be a particularly good idea if virologists would start to give economic advice to politicians. Because these would be unqualified opinions. The job of virologists is to give advice on their field of expertise, just like it is the job of economists to give advice on their field of expertise. It is then the job of elected politicians to make a final decision based on that these various inputs.

And that's what politicians have in fact done these past months, at least in my country. As I had indicated in my first, somewhat lengthy post in this thread some health experts in Germany had argued in April that we need to keep up the lockdowns for a couple of more weeks longer to wipe out the virus completely. But one aspect that led politicians to lift the lockdown earlier was in fact worry about the state of the economy. Just like we are in situation right now at this very moment where politicians in Germany are hesitating to return to measures as harsh as the ones back March/April for similar reasons.

This brings us back to question of what do you want? That virologists shut up about virology? That virologists start advising politicians on fields they are unqualified and inexperienced in?