countries which had acted more swiftly and have managed so far with far less infections and deaths

This does not bear out. Look at Italy, the first country in Europe to lockdown and harder than elsewhere yet the rates soared.

New Zealand, cut themselves off from the rest of the world (easy being surrounded by water) and after a time proudly announced they had defeated the virus, with no further infections or deaths. And then a couple of weeks later, it started again.

In the long term, lockdowns are ineffective and destroy the infrastructure that provide the goods and services we need.

Lockdowns cannot be indefinite.

As for facts, the numbers tell the story, while cases of infection are on the rise again, death rates are not matching this.

You can explore the statistics worldwide from these charts.

https://mackuba.eu/corona/#compare_countries?val=d&c=us-ny,us-ca,us-tx,us-fl,us-nj,us-il,us-az,us-ma,us-ga,us-pa

@krnel also raises very valid points, the government rules are ad hoc.

Think of the rules in restaurants. COVID is so deadly you need to wear a mask to get into the restaurant and sit down. Then when you sit down, you are safe from COVID. If you gather with a lot of people, COVID is deadly, except if you protest in BLM. It's a magical virus.