it doesn't help us understand physics, even if we used to think it did. it doesn't help us solve social problems, even if we wish it did.
and, it won't help us contain an epidemic, either.
if there is one thing i am sure of in this world, it is that authoritarianism is always the wrong approach - that we can't control anything, no matter how hard we try. we are at the perpetual whim of uncertainty and chaos, and we need to start to understand that and act like we do.