Saturday is the fifth anniversary of states implementing shutdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19. The move sparked a disastrous, multi-year, multi-administration pandemic response that cost trillions of dollars, eroded public trust, and tanked student achievement — all without reducing deaths. By many metrics, the U.S. pandemic response was among the worst in the developed world.

Five years later, it’s clear the pandemic delivered several useful warnings. Remote learning exposed parents to the poisonous ideological indoctrination in school curricula. Censorship on social media alerted the public to the dangers posed to free speech by government-directed pushes to quash dissent. Deceptive behavior by international bodies, especially the World Health Organization, prompted the U.S. to reconsider their worth and place.