Locking people up like prison inmates was no better than less restrictive measures:
The peer reviewed study, which was conducted by a group of Stanford researchers and published in the Wiley Online Library on January 5, analyzed coronavirus case growth in 10 countries in early 2020.
Source: COVID Lockdowns Have No Clear Benefit vs Other Voluntary Measures, International Study Shows
There are issues with this study – including selection bias, the use of models, the time dimension issue. Still, this is the same conclusion that numerous other studies have reached.
That lock downs do not work has been known for many years.
Note – the “counterpoint” to this study is to cite the garbage research at Imperial College London, where Neil Ferguson has not produced an accurate model projection in 20 years and ignored his own lock down rules.
In this past few days, both NY Gov Cuomo and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot have announced that if they continue the lockdowns, there will nothing left to recover. Just like that, the ineffective restrictions seem poised to end within weeks.
Seems that Governors are realizing that the vaccine rollout is indeed in complete disarray – and that we are 9-15 months out from vaccine-based herd immunity – as signs of natural herd immunity are becoming visible.
They realize now that the pandemic will likely end on its own – and are now worried about how they will blame for their past poor policy choices.
