In UK there were press reports of politicians attending parties during the 'pandemic' Also plenty of pictures of leading figures without masks, UNTIL the cameras rolled.
Therefore if the people at the top (telling you to take experiment drugs and wear a piece material on your face with elastic round your ears) were not concerned about catching anything, that says loud and clear that health risks remained what they had always been. No significant change to the past.
But the lockdowns and other restrictions did cause economic damage.