The fact that quarantine works is a very direct consequence of the germ theory of disease.

You don't have to understand every detail about the virus to know that keeping infected people away from uninfected people halts its spread.

Quarantine measures have been incredibly effective in countries that have implemented them seriously. China, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and other countries have essentially eliminated the virus within their borders. Quarantine is low-tech but effective.

Part of the problem is that quarantine means different things to different people and places. North American and European quarantine seems to have been almost entirely ineffective. Too loose to help and too invasive to not hurt.

It's hard to prove anything, especially because my government's policy is specifically not to tell us where people are infected, city, store, or class of activity, nor infections by capita, etc.

Here they ban playing tennis on outdoor tennis courts (but not other exercise usage of the court, such as weight lifting and dancercize - both of which I've seen there during Covid) while allowing people to sit near each other at the bar and drink. There's a chance that tennis balls are that much more infectious, but it seems likely that political issues got in the way of proper medical advice...

Also, leaving supermarkets open as opposed to totally roadside pickup probably wasted most of the effect of closing everything else. And failing to properly compensate small businesses led to many breaking the rules and going back early just to be able to eat.

So I think people in some places do have a good excuse to be mad about the manipulation. If my government locks me down I want to know that they really think it'll fix something and when I look at other governments versus my own, I don't get that feeling.