Effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality

Conclusions This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that several personal protective and social measures, including handwashing, mask wearing, and physical distancing are associated with reductions in the incidence covid-19. Public health efforts to implement public health measures should consider community health and sociocultural needs, and future research is needed to better understand the effectiveness of public health measures in the context of covid-19 vaccination.

And forbidding all social interaction would reduce infections even more. Which effectiveness in the interest of preventing sickness and deaths ignores the vast increase in both as a result of Covid restrictions.

From a much larger on-going compilation of research you may have to go to for links to work.

the long-term cost for the questionable[224]“cure” - as meaning preventing deaths via the stay-sheltered COVID captivity - will most likely be more costly in lives and money [225] [226] including psychosocial consequences[227][228] than a more moderate response that would allow for a faster and more substantial rise in cases but a better decrease and overall a more healthy populace in the long run. [229][230][231]

A December 2020 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that there have been roughly 400,000 covid-linked deaths so far due to covid-related lockdowns, and with long-term economic implications indicating an increase in the death rate in the overall population following the COVID-19 pandemic of between 0.89 and 1.37 million excess deaths. For African-Americans this would be an estimated 180 thousand and 270 thousand excess deaths over the next 15 and 20years, respectively. For Whites this would mean an estimated 0.82 and 1.21 million excess deaths over the next 15 and 20 years, respectively.[232]

Of course, when over 70% of Americans are overweight or obese (over 40% the latter [233]) and this condition is a primary factor relative to serious and fatal COVID-19 infections,[234] then we should expect far more deaths from this or any such new virus than if obesity itself was not pandemic. Research shows that people with obesity were more than twice as likely to end up in the hospital and nearly 50 percent more likely to die of COVID-19.[235] Another study finds that more than 77 percent of 17,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the United States had excess weight or obesity.[236] A more recent study found that 88 percent of deaths due to COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic were in countries where more than half of the population is classified as overweight. In countries where more than 50% of the population was overweight, the COVID-19 death rate was more than 100 per 100,000. “Conversely, in countries where less than half of the adult population is classified as overweight, the risk of death from COVID-19 was about one-tenth of the levels in countries with higher shares of overweight adults.”[237] [238]Also, “two new, large studies from England and Mexico further detail obesity as being a risk factor for poor COVID-19–related outcomes, including death, with a UK study showing the highest hospitalization rate being among young adults.” [239] [240]

Economically, estimates project total losses in state and local revenue of up to 45 percent, effecting 90,000 nonfederal-government entities that provide and pay for most of the government services that Americans receive.[241] And while states look to the Federal government to bail them out, the additional costs and declining revenues stemming from Covid-19 are expected to produce a 2020 budget deficit in excess of $4.2 trillion.[242]

And most of government income comes from taxes, via businesses and those who are employed ( income taxes, payroll taxes, and corporate taxes),[243],yet businesses are failing across America, and in New York alone the governor stated that small businesses constitute “90 percent of New York's businesses” and “more than 100,000 have shut permanently since the pandemic hit.”[244]

Moreover since March 15, there were 65 million unemployment claims filed (reported Oct 16, 2020,[245] and as of Nov 5, 2020 around 751,000 people had filed for first-time unemployment with 22 million jobs having been lost as a result of the pandemic, with just over 10 million jobs yet to be recovered. [246]

In addition, on Aug. 2 it was reported[247] that thirty-six of of the top 50 cities in America had a collective 24% jump in homicides this year compared to 2019, with a total of 3,612 murders in 2020 being reported so far. More recently, a 4/3/2021 report states that sixty-three major American cities saw a 33% increase in homicides in 2020.[248] In more recently, According to the FBI's annual report on crime, the nationwide murder rate, homicides rose by 30% in 2020 - the largest increase ever.[249] (decreased police funding is part of this, resulting in less arrests, thus enabling the misleading claim of less crime).

Also, according to one meta-analysis of 42 studies involving 20 million people, the risk of death increases 63 percent when one loses their job, and that for every one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate, there are 37,000 deaths, mainly from heart attacks, but another 1,000 from suicides and another 650 from homicides.[250]

The Washington Post (in seeking to promote gun control) reports that studies have established strong correlations between suicide and pressure such as unemployment, evictions and displacement and which have all risen sharply during the pandemic. And that Federal surveys show 40 percent of Americans - and in particular almost 75 percent of young adults - are now grappling with at least one mental health or drug-related problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that over 25% of young adults said they had thought about killing themselves in the past 30 days, compared with 10.5 percent in 2018.

Officials in Arizona’s Pima County reported spikes in suicides while the number of suicides by the summer of 2020 in Oregon’s Columbia County had already surpassed last year’s total. The Chicago suburb DuPage County reported a 23 percent rise in suicides compared with last year. And in Chicago itself suicides among African Americans have far surpassed the total for 2019.[251]

These are in addition to reports such as “Calls to suicide and help hotline in Los Angeles increase 8,000% due to coronavirus,”[252] and “Doctors at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek say they have seen more deaths by suicide during this quarantine period than deaths from the COVID-19 virus,”[253] and increased rate can extend to children.[254]

A study published March 2 reports that self-harm by children and suicides have increased exponentially during COVID-19 lockdowns that have closed schools, finding that ,

In March and April 2020, mental health claim lines1 for individuals aged 13 - 18, as a percentage of all medical claim lines, approximately doubled over the same months in the previous year. Claim lines for intentional self - harm as a percentage of all medical claim lines in the 13 - 18 age group increased 99.83 percent in March 2020 compared to March 2019 . The increase was even larger when comparing April 2020 to April 2019, nearly doubling (99.83 percent). For the age group 13 - 18, claim lines for overdoses increased 94.91 percent as a percentage of all medical claim lines in March 2020 and 119.31 percent in April 2020 over the same months the year before.[255]

Citing this study ,Dr. Martin Makary, professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, stated that self-harm and overdoses increased 91-100% and children are 10X more likely to die of suicide than coronavirus.[256] Overall, the number of psychiatric-related hospital visits among young people increased 31 percent last year. .[257] Teenage suicide in California, increased 24 percent, leading to 134 deaths in 2020 while only 23 California minors died of Covid-19.[258] [259]

In addition to which are greatly increased drug overdoses and deaths during COVID.[260][261] [262]A recent analysis found that U.S. drug overdose deaths rose 30% to record during the pandemic,[263] which report was folllowed by a November 17, 2021 report by the CDC which estimated that there were an unprecedented 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 12-month period ending in April 2021, led by overdose deaths from opioids which increased to 75,673 in the 12-month period ending in April 2021, up from 56,064 the year before.[264]

There has also been significant rise in the use of porn[265] and divorces. [266]And although measures taken to prevent Covid-19 infections may reduce transmission of certain other illnesses, yet due to the focus upon detection and treatment of Covid-19, neglect of the same for other diseases can result in more deaths.[267] Worldwide up to 6.3 million more people are predicted to develop TB between now and 2025 and 1.4 million more people are expected to die as cases go undiagnosed and untreated during lockdown.[268]

All of which can mean that the lockdown measures can end up being responsible for more deaths across the globe than the Coronavirus itself, which is what a German official warns of.[269] Over 600 doctors signed onto a letter sent to President Trump favoring an end the "national shutdown," referring to it as being a "mass casualty incident" with "exponentially growing health consequences." [270]

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