Comment by Manuel_D
A short global lockdown? China pursued the zero COVID policy for two years. Even highly restrictive measures weren't enough to stem it.
COVID is no longer a novel virus and its deadliness has vastly decreased. Yes it is by any reasonable understanding of the phrase, COVID is "less nasty". At its peak, 20,000 people were dying each week due to COVID in the US. Presently that figure sits around 200.
Its immediate deadliness has decreased, but it still causes cardiopulmonary and brain damage, and effects are cumulative with repeated exposure, and now it's endemic and frequently asymptomatic. Differently nasty, but not less nasty.