Posted on 01/24/2023 2:07:29 PM PST by lightman
A newly released essay by Douglas Allen, professor of economics at Simon Fraser University, examines why governments repeatedly used lockdowns during COVID-19 even after it became clear lockdowns were ineffective and “failed to isolate the virus and stop it from spreading.”
Lockdowns were sustained with political support, suggests Allen, and lockdowns had “many winners.”
He says for the “laptop class,” the lockdown was “the great vacation,” the “great excuse,” and the “great opportunity.” Lockdowns, said Allen, transferred wealth to this group.
Meanwhile, he says, public health campaigns repeatedly told citizens that “death was ‘at the door,'” ‘now is not the time to let our guard down,’ ‘we are all in this together,’” and ‘let’s not lose what we have gained so far.’
People came to believe in “the absurd goal of ‘zero-COVID,’” despite suffering from government lockdown policies, Allen says. As such, a fearful segment of citizens “supported the policies and actually helped enforce state regulations through social stigma and shaming of those who objected.”
Ultimately, the negative effects of lockdowns fell “disproportionately on the young, the poor, people of colour, those with health problems other than COVID-19, the least educated, blue collar workers, single parents, and many others at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.”
Enforcement
Allen said there were two reasons government officials panicked.
“First, many mistakenly thought that COVID-19 could be eradicated using a comprehensive track/trace/isolate strategy in the way SARS had been dealt with in 2004,” he wrote.
“Second, groups of applied mathematicians immediately called for lockdowns, and their apocalyptic predictions heavily influenced policymakers,” he said.
Yet, there was no “immediate massive death toll” as predicted, even after five waves, said Allen. Within months of the initial panic, it was clear the models were wrong.
It was also apparent COVID could not be contained and affected only a select portion of the population, largely the elderly, and those with four comorbidities, on average, were most likely to die. It was also clear that lockdown restrictions had detrimental consequences on commercial activity, mental health, and educational opportunities, and had other health consequences.
But still, said Allen, governments persisted and enforcement became harsher, even after it was found that the mortality risk from COVID depended on age.
In other words, wrote Allen, COVID “was never a serious threat for healthy people under 60.”
All of these factors should have led to a change in approach by governments, said Allen. Instead, enforcement was ramped up.
B.C. still restricted gatherings in homes late into the Omicron wave, and both Alberta and B.C. required vaccine passports to attend church, go to restaurants, visit movie theatres, or do any other activity the government deemed non-essential.
Other provinces, noted Allen, enforced curfews and “threatened to withhold health services to the unvaccinated.”
Allen suggests it was clear by April 2020 that death counts “were going to be only three to six percent of what had been predicted, while the fiscal costs of lockdowns were already enormous.”
“To admit such a mistake would be exceptionally costly to a government, and this led to a bad ‘double down’ political equilibrium across most of the globe,” he said.
Soon, “two weeks to ‘bend the curve’ became a string of ‘circuit breakers’ and other insidious euphemisms for curtailed liberties,” wrote Allen. Most restrictions continued for two years in Canada.
“Initially people in favor of lockdown argued that the costs were just lost GDP [gross domestic product]. This was absurd. The vast amount of costs came in the form of deaths of despair, deaths from missed appointments, lost livelihood,” Allen told The Epoch Times.
Given that all viruses “reach a biological endemic stat eventually,” concluded Allen, all that governments had to do was “double down” on lockdowns and claim victory for defeating COVID-19.
China Model
China was the first country to put a lockdown in place on Jan. 23, 2020, and by April, half of the world’s population was under lockdown, the essay said.
From Jan. 5, 2021, Canada had stronger lockdowns than the United States, noted the essay. Lockdowns began in March 2020, with closures and restrictions of borders, Parliament, social gatherings, schools, restaurants, playgrounds, salons, spas, fitness centres, and daycare facilities.
This was the first time that lockdowns were enforced on healthy and non-symptomatic people.
Some lockdown measures remained in place until late spring 2022, despite the fact it was not part of any existing World Health Organization or Centre for Disease Control recommendations for dealing with a pandemic.
I can think of a couple people to be locked down with and LOTS of others that would make me welcome death.
Never again, I hope. Maybe people learned a lesson. Then again, I still see people walking around wearing surgical masks.
proving it was never about the bug at all...
Different from when I was a kid where there was active participation Kindergarten to 12th grade.
It was all about CONTROL.
Could the whole world become like Communist China?
Answer: Scare ‘em enough and folks will do anything.
I am 66. I go to the gym for a rigorous workout twice a week. I am Type II diabetic and had quadruple bypass surgery in December 2017.
I have had COVID twice. First was November 2020. Took the J&J vaccine in April 2021. No boosters. Had COVID a 2nd time in late December 2022.
Both times, as soon as I realized I was infected, I jumped on it with heavy doses of vitamin D and zinc. On doctor recommendations I also took Pepcid AC and melatonin before bed. I frequently during the course of the day gargled with mint flavored Listerine and took generic form of Mucinex, as well as using a cough syrup with an expectorant to keep my lungs clear. I got up and moved around frequently.
Both of my cases of COVID were about like a moderately-severe cold. I like to think that being in good physical shape helped me shake it off. Both times I felt like going back to work after 3 days, but I didn’t to make sure I was not a spreader.
In the U.S. these were crimes. False imprisonment, medical rape with a needle, in many cases denial of a means of income... all without due process.
Earlier I saw two different dogs with light blue covid masks on going past me but haven't seen one for a while. Maybe I haven't been observant.
The dogs probably think "The things we dogs have to put up with for our nutty owners. Part of the game."
Follow the science!
There have been no mask mandates in Pennsylvania for a year and a half; yet today at a restaurant I observed at least half a dozen folk dutifully diapered up until they reached their tables.
And of course muzzling up again when leaving.
Idiots.
Government employees were also a huge beneficiary. Where I live, not a single government employee was let go as a result of COVID. Income, benefits package, and “work-from-home”. That came about because of federal subsidies for emergencies.
Ask yourself why governments refuse to get rid of the COVID emergency declarations.
And the ACLU had nothing to say about any of it. Not a word.
“ineffective”?!!WTF? they were very “effective” from governments perspective
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