We could be rid of covid in under a month. If absolutely everyone took one month’s supplies, went home and just stayed there without exception for four weeks, when we all came out covid would be all but extinct, any few remaining cases easily mopped up by trace and test.
I know this is not practical, but it defines the best-case scenario so that we can make a comparison; a short sharp shock would kill covid quite easily. We could have been free of covid well over a year ago, and we could still go for wiping it out at any time.
If the vaccines don’t stop infection or long covid, we may well be forced to take that option eventually, as our population get progressively weakened by repeated bouts of infection.