>>>Certainly, if you look at the five boroughs of New York City, plus Northern New Jersey, you're talking a significant chunk of the country. The deaths per square mile is just plain scary.
>>>However, there are some other parts of the country that don't necessarily make the national news, but have been devastated....
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>And that's just the COVID deaths. From the harder lockdown cities there's anecdotal reports of a year's worth of suicide attempts in a week and other effects yet to be calculated...

When I hear arguments like that, I think of this story.

There was a guy walking downtown along fifth avenue in NYC, rolling up pages of the Daily News and throwing them along the curb, about every 100 feet.
Another guy who was following him asked him, when they reached 34th Street:
"Why are you throwing rolled-up pages of the Daily News along the curb?"
The page-thrower answered:
"Well, anyone can see why - can't you?"
The questioner answered-, haltingly:
"Well, no, I can't. Why are you doing it?"
The page-thrower answered, with a tone of impatience:
"Well- if I must. OK - I throw them to keep the elephants off fifth avenue."
The questioner said "That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard"
The page-thrower answered, smugly:
"Do you seen any elephants?"

People have died and more are dying.
Let's think about them and not about who was right and who was wrong.