I think you missed the part of the guidance where you lock down the 1-5% of the population that is most vulnerable, but only for 1-3 months.
For Covid, that would have greatly reduced peak health care loads, and had a much more modest economic impact, and fewer secondary effects (RSV wouldn’t have been a issue, for example.)
Locking down 1-5% is not nearly enough, though. Hospitalisation rate just for nauve people above 60, which are a quarter of the population, was above 5%. No healthcare system can handle the hospitalization of over 1% of the population in a few weeks.
For Covid, that would have greatly reduced peak health care loads, and had a much more modest economic impact, and fewer secondary effects (RSV wouldn’t have been a issue, for example.)