You mean that "shutting down" was a mistake?
Can you give data, statistics, and facts to prove your case?
Sure.
That is easy.
There are always 2 main strategies for any epidemic.
If it is very high lethality, then you always do a full quarantine, with contract tracing.
And example would be Ebola.
But if it is very low lethality, like covid, then you always try to achieve the required 72% recovery immunity as quickly as possible. The deaths do not stop until you have achieved this 72% recovery immunity, so there is no reason to delay it.
You can kill an infinite number of people if you try to "flatten the curve" of infection. That is because you can isolate the over 70 year old vulnerable population, but only for a short period of time.
Essentially what "flattening the curve" does is keep a constant supply of easy new hosts, so that the epidemic can never end.
We have proof simply by looking at the fact epidemics like covid normally are just 2 months long, and we artificially extended covid to be over 3 years long, by wearing masks and isolating, thus preventing herd immunity from ending it quickly.