I'm really, really torn on what the best thing to do is now.
It seems the places that locked down early and hard are doing okay - New Zealand being a great example. The places that locked down later are struggling regardless of how hard a lockdown it was, like Italy. And Sweden keep being touted as a country that didn't lock down and therefore seems to be coping better with a second wave, but at massive cost.
I don't think the economists are wrong that a second lockdown would quite possibly be devastating financially. I think it'd also have a big effect on people overall. There's an endless amount of stories about suicides, self-harm and stillbirths going up during lockdown. Mental health massively declined, alcohol consumption went up.
With all that considered, I don't think there'd be a lot of compliance with a second lockdown.
The public will have no choice to comply though if everything is shut and schools are shut
That seems naive to me. People will meet in parks, have people over to their house. They were before the end of the first lockdown, before anything had reopened. I have an acquaintance who visited anyone and everyone.
Sure, the people inside would be doing okay, they likely wouldn't get it. But they'd probably get it again whenever they did stop lockdown again... so it brings you back to some sort of voluntary lockdown... but that's a hugely criticised policy for vulnerable people. Surely it'd be the same for everyone else, unless uptake was massive. It'd create a two-tiered society... and there'd have to be some drastic and unlikely law changes to stop employers from getting rid of people that they saw as "choosing" to lockdown and hiring people still happy to work.