Why didn't we lock down? Because we had very recently been through a very similar situation, where we saw the dangers of mass hysteria. Specifically, our Infectious Disease Expert Anders Tegnel, who had just been traumatized by his role in the recent Swine flu epidemic (2009) in Sweden, during which he led the charge of mass vaccination which led to hundreds of children developing narcolepsy, was still in charge and trusted. All this is basically hear-say, but I'm writing it to give you an inclination as to why Tegnell and the Swedish people were "inoculated" against COVID mass hysteria.
This is so interesting.
Let's hope Americans (and others around the world) also learn this lesson against mass hysteria.