Ignoring future Google research in ethics has low-risks, as top ethics talent will certainly avoid working for Google, and prefer academic freedom elsewhere (where reviewers are external, to avoid CoI).
French President Macron seems to be doing what this post is writing: trying to fine-tune the spread, and find a balance between economy and health, with proportional measures
posts from health professionals can be even worse. this one was not too bad at explaining the thinking of ruling elites (who think they can fine-tune an epidemic)
Because researchers have little incentives to commercialize their research, especially in academia. They take pride of this insulation from the 'real world'. That's the root cause why research metrics are different from industry metrics.