A wise and useful reflection by Gabrielle Bauer on the "precautionary principle":
Two years into this pandemic, it is high time we learn from our mistakes. We must ask ourselves, at every step, whether our response matches or exceeds the threat. We must have full permission to discuss costs and benefits out loud, without fear of censure. When we invoke the precautionary principle, it must be with discretion and deliberation — with great caution, as it were.
An intractable problem whose intractability needs to be faced: the taking of extreme precautions in one sphere (e.g. infectious disease) will sometimes require a manifest failure of precaution in other spheres (e.g. mental health). The immediate prospect of physical danger generates intellectual myopia.