I have come to the conclusion that trying to enact political measures to deal with something like an infectious disease is only ever going to be minimally successful -- it's like trying to bottle fog.
Transmission is more complex than 'be near someone and you'll catch it' -- of course this can be a factor, but there are many others, some of which we understand and some of which we don't.
Furthermore, human nature is such that many people will ignore or break the rules, unless you have something akin to an authoritarian police state. (And even then...)
I also think a lot of people have an unrealistic expectation of how much safety they are owed by the government. It's not government's job to make our lives 100% safe. If it was, it would be illegal to drive a car, or be over a certain weight, or get pregnant, or go for a swim, or have an operation, or basically do anything that is part of being alive.
At one level and this is an open question to which I don't have an answer how much safety do we expect from government, and how much is down to decision-making, risk assessment and personal responsibility?
I'm no fan of this government, but I think they are trying sometimes successfully, sometimes not to strike a balance between legislating and giving out information that allows people to protect themselves up to a reasonable point, and allowing the functions of society to continue. This is always going to be a slightly wobbly tightrope, because you're pitting something blunt human reasoning and decision-making etc against an organism which is built to be highly efficient at doing what it is doing.