@3Dave I don't think that it is limited to US citizens, Europeans supposedly are affected the same. But thats something we have to go through
I made an observation during the first wave of the pandemic, something that gave me a lot of confidence: This was the first time that our "system", politics, corporate world, etc. gave out policies/guidelines that were against the prevailing rules, but made sense. It was the we-do-the-right-thing-independent-of-custom-rules spirit.
I take that as a sign that we, the western world, have a lot of "reserve" power. We can, for the most part of the time, afford to have silly rules and let it slide by it. We can also, in need, do the right things.