Amidst a growing number of COVID-19 cases and elevated uncertainty surrounding the trajectory of the pandemic, municipalities across the US are reinstating lockdown restrictions. Heated criticism comes from every direction, as both lockdown-proponents and opponents contest the best method for managing the virus. While everyone has different opinions on the matter, a familiar question has resurfaced: will people adhere to stay-at-home orders? Enforcing lockdown measures has proved to be difficult. Despite safety guidelines, many people continue to ignore recommended precautions, and the question of “why?” arises. While the answer is often reduced to saying that deviators simply don’t care about public welfare, this generalization doesn’t capture all the factors at play. Behavioral economics can explain why many people deviate from COVID recommendations; the pandemic can be treated as a game, and as such, game theory can elucidate why public consensus on how to handle the pandemic is not uniform. Examination under the lens of game theory shows that individuals often benefit more by not following guidelines. From this conclusion, the added benefit of further lockdowns becomes questionable.