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@HenryPenn
How do we know that lockdowns aren't just causing certain mutations to win out over others because of the measures we are taking? For example, the UK, SA and Brazil strains all seem to be more infectious- do we know conclusively that has not happened because those particular mutations happened to be able to overcome lockdown measures (masks, social distancing, handwashing, etc)?

@JulianHamer
A similar point. You say the Brazil strain has developed because of their rampant infections and limited lockdowns, but South Africa had one of the strictest lockdowns in the world last year, even banning alcohol sales for no good scientific reason. Equally, California has a new strain they are blaming for their recent surge in cases, but they had one of the earliest lockdowns in the USA last year, and one of the stricter ones too. Do we know for sure, or is it just a hopeful guess, that the lockdown measures we are using aren't actually causing some of these more serious mutations (more infectious, more deadly, could escape the vaccines etc) to win out because they are the only ones capable of defeating our measures in one way or another (for example, a mutation that spreads through children more easily, or is more dangerous to them, because schools are/were one of the few places where people were still meeting en masse)?