is there a prisoner's dilemma around covid-19?

no.

i gain nothing by co-operating - i have to sacrifice, entirely. and, i don't see any value in doing so. i'm being forced to sacrifice at gunpoint whether i like it or not.

that's not the right model for this situation.

this is more of a scenario where a dictatorship of the elderly is dictating policy to everybody else, at their benefit and the expense of everybody else. and it won't last two years.

it won't last two months.

governments need to adjust their strategies, because this isn't sustainable.