We have some control WRT COVID- we can be as careful as scared bunnies, but if someone ignores the symptoms or has none and is careless, we either become carriers or are infected- vaccine, or not.
I'm not sure anyone wanted the economy to keep going as it was- anything that doesn't require close proximity to others, could be made safe with masks and other PPE or could be seen as 'essential' as some jobs were considered, could have made the losses in spending, growth or at least keep the losses lower but killing the pipeline and the coal industry, which HAS been much cleaner-burning in recent years, would have prevented the loss of a lot of jobs. I'm not a fan of just dumping pollution in every orifice of the planet, but oil is hard to beat when it comes to energy density and Biden made the US reliant on other sources. Now, the pipeline companies are suing, to the tune of $15B.
The biggest problem in all of this is that, because of the shutdown, demand for many things almost stopped. That, coupled with the World's reliance on China as their main producer of goods, has f&cked the global economy. We're here because we like AV, etc but China is flooding the markets with bad/fake chips and that, hopefully, will bite them on the ass and every sensitive body part nearby.
I'm working on a project that needs a lot of building supplies and the carpenter said he paid $7.25 for studs today- that's half of what he paid at the peak and these didn't come from a big box store because their lumber sucks. The box of speaker cable I bought last week cost almost $200, at wholesale- that's almost double what I paid last year. This homeowner wants a large (75"-ish) Samsung Frame TV- I told him they don't have any and nobody knows when they'll be available.
The shutdown was very poorly conceived and now that people have had a taste of what Welfare is, they don't want to go back to work. A local radio crew was talking about the fact that the TacoBell in Plymouth, WI is offering $17.50/hour to start but the WI dog catcher, who's from the same town, says that people weren't paid to stay at home. Bullcrap.