In many ways we got off pretty easy in the US. There were at least parts of the country where life more or less went on like normal after a short period of restrictions.

Of course you're right about how regimes always look to exploit crises to enhance their power. What's useful about some of these episodes is that we get a look at what they're trying to do and who's in on it.

Undisciplined

libertarian

Covid Showed Us Who Really Rules America | Mises Institute

Power is tyrannical and takes advantage of the fragility of the moment to implement restrictive measures. This has always been the case and always will be. Another situation where this happened was after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. I will not give my opinion on whether these measures were good or bad, but the truth is that many restrictive measures were implemented worldwide, not only in the United States of America.