They may be able to convince themselves that they are “more or less” normal, but that is an insular conclusion, and the more normal the rest of the world becomes, the less normal their own becomes.I said "more or less".
Consider a hypothetical: suppose I, and 40 friends, form a pact never to interact with anyone outside the group. We would work remotely, travel to see each other by private transport, and quarantine anyone who interacted outside the group. Within the group we could do whatever we wanted.
In a “rest of society in Lockdown” scenario, that may be desirable. But as society exits lockdown, the hardship of this insular arrangement would take its toll as the opportunity cost of maintaining it becomes too great. I suspect the group would rapidly begin to dwindle from 40.
National Zero Covid policies are just this, but on a bigger scale. The opportunity cost is less because it covers a physical area with all its interactions. But as the rest of the world resume normality, that opportunity cost increases. It can only be maintained by a cult-like insistence that the virus be kept out at all costs, often with exaggeration about its effects even as vaccines objectively massively reduce its impact. Also, unlike my “group” hypothetical above, people can’t trivially leave it; the only way to leave is to physically move, and it's not easy for many to relocate internationally.
The opportunity cost of a state-by-state Zero-Covid policy is far higher than that of a whole country Covid policy. Only a minority travel internationally, but domestic travel is far more common. More people are therefore missing out, and more people have social ties that they are giving up on. For someone who doesn't have ties outside their state, they may view things as "more" normal. For someone who does, many will view things as "not at all" normal. I would guess that 25%(?) are very seriously affected. "More or less" is a huge simplification and ignores the "random lottery" of hardship in maintaining restrictions that make inter-state travel impractical for most, and impossible for many.