I feel the first one was reasonable given the limited information.
Mil died of COVID stuck in a care home where hospitals were told to discharge COVID positive patients to clear beds.
Not ideal, but on reflection options were hugely limited and beds were needed for others.
Obviously it went through the care home like wildfire. We weren't allowed in but sat outside her window with our primary aged DC, holding her hand for a week, as she slowly died.
They let my BIL in (against the rules of the time) purely because he doesn't have a wife or DC, so if he died it would have "less" impact.
That's where we were in May 2020. There was no idea how things were going or the long term impact of COVID or lockdowns - sometimes it seemed very random who died and who didn't.
I also worked in a school, with key worker children. The second they opened businesses up that's when children should have been back, toddler groups opened etc.
The impact in schools (and with my own DC) is that children generally speaking seem less mature, less sociable and less resilient and with much higher screen use (socialising through a screen became the norm).
The current reception year are less school ready. There's a smaller cohort too. They were born in lockdown.
My own theory for that is the huge part that baby and toddler groups play in early childhood (and nurseries too).
As a parent you quickly see what other children are doing, comparisons are made right from the start.
Oh my baby has rolled over, mine smiles, mine can walk, wave, point etc.
So when your own child isn't making the same progress as their peers you realise much sooner, and can address problems more quickly.
If baby groups and nurseries aren't running there aren't necessarily those early opportunities to address issues.