Seanm, stop hitting the nail on the head. I'm talking about both your posts, which are 100% accurate.
Unfortunately we don't really have an east way of progressing on either side, democracy as it stands in Europe can't cope - unless, that is, you adopt the Finnish approach, which was the case some while ago in some countries in Europe, or that in Asia, which relies on goodwill and strong united governments where people are effectively taught to see the bigger picture even if it means they lose what me would call some basic human rights. Confinement clearly works, as do masks, washing etc, but to accept that, and to try to enforce it, is too hard for most democratic governments to accept, mostly because they're election losers.
That's besides the money issues you so accurately describe: it really is a case of the money or your life.