I’ve had a similar experience before in NL. One evening at a bar I asked for an espresso (the machine was still on and functional) and the two bar women kept trying to shame me into getting a beer instead. Never went back to that place

The US doesn’t seem to accurately anticipate blowback in their schemes, I don’t see why Covid would be any different. Take the “current situation” for example, they thought sanctions would cripple Russia and oust Putin and they have done neither. As well the sanctions clearly backfired on the EU and US.