@DreamingofDalyan,
I would take the opposite perspective. I remember, before I even knew lockdown was a thing, and we had a handful of cases in the U.K., doing a simple spreadsheet of the exponential growth and realising we would have 1mio cases within a few weeks. And, up until lockdown, my spreadsheet worked pretty well.
If you have a logical mind, you will realise that in a pandemic, you have competing rights. The ‘freedoms’ and ‘rights’ that we are used to versus the freedoms and rights for everyone to move around safely and to get medical treatment when they are sick.
I feel that in traditional democracies, governments have tried to address this as openly as possible, publishing their expert advice and regularly explaining their decisions. That does not mean mistakes were not made or that, with hindsight, we would not have done things slightly differently.
And, as is typical in times of stress, some have made a quick buck unethically, this fails to reach the standard of some kind of global conspiracy led by figures in the shadows.
COVID has not gone away (in any sense) and might never go away as a background virus. However, within a couple of years, we will be able to live with it and can expect ‘normal life’ to resume fully (it should be much closer to normal within 3 months). If that does not happen, I would change my mind.
Until then, the usual applies: a combination of carelessness and venality of a few at the top.