Lockdowns, Not the Pandemic, Created Havoc

[Paul Blackburn]

Never missed a days work, never wore a mask, never got the jab, never missed a week of jujitsu with the same 20 or so guys. Just took vitamin D, zinc, and quercetin.

Out of curiosity I did get an antibody test that showed I have or had the antibodies.

All the guys in jujitsu got it at some point but it was no big deal. Same with our immediate family.

The covid response was an overblown hoax/scam.

The suppression of early treatment is criminal.

The manipulation of information is everywhere nowadays.

[rainman]

Soon we will be able to post nice graphs showing how 16yr olds are reading at the second grade level and how their speech and social skills fall about the same. Then, maybe a nice pie graph showing the percent of education dollar going to remediate these same issues instead of teaching critical thinking and other items needed for a healthy child and a healthy society. Teachers and parents (who care) are already dealing with it. We haven’t even scratched the surface yet. I can tell you that honest, hard working, dedicated teachers we know are literally frightened at what is coming down the road. These are folks that have spent decades devoting their lives to the education of children.

You can see the effects in other aspects too. Overall lack of productivity within the economy, structural issues within the (post pandemic) workplace, and lack of skilled workers to feed the whole thing.

There was no “trade off”. We lost.

More appropriately, we should be asking ourselves “who won?”.

VERY much this...


-Rainman

[BillSWPA]

The Swedish no-restriction approach had its costs.

Attachment 87183

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-022-01097-5

Reasonable tradeoff? I don’t know how to calculate that.

Looking at just COVID deaths is the wrong approach. How many people died - or will die - because of missed cancer screenings, loss of income, loss of health insurance, etc.? At least 150,000 businesses (and perhaps many more) have been destroyed, and at least tens of millions of people have had the trajectories of their lives permanently altered in the US. I have seen at least one study indicating that overall death rates (not just the Covid death rates) were higher in locations with strict lockdowns than in locations with less restrictive measures. Here are some I was able to find now:

https://sites.krieger.jhu.edu/iae/fi...-Mortality.pdf

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eci.13484

https://www.aier.org/article/lockdow...tudy-suggests/

My whole family had Covid. We were sick for 2 weeks, and avoided at least one hospital stay by doing something very simple that no public health authority thought to tell anyone to do: monitor pulse oxygen levels and call the doctor as soon as they start dropping. We have personally seen the effects of school closures on one former straight A student and one special needs student in my immediate family. The closures wrecked their schooling, but did not keep them from getting Covid.

Closing another relative's business did not prevent him from getting Covid. It only put him in a worse position to deal with the cost when he was ultimately hospitalized with Covid.

The actual effect of the lockdowns in the US was the closing of small businesses - which typically have only a small number of customers at a time - and forcing everyone to congregate in a smaller number of large stores. How does that help?

Reasonable tradeoff? My own state's governor did not think so as he kept his own family's 350 person kitchen cabinet business open. Actually, it was probably quite reasonable for him as he shut down his competitors.

Is it a reasonable tradeoff to trash due process, equal protection, protection against taking property without compensation, freedom of association, etc. for perceived temporary safety? Not if you value living in a free society.

[Joe in PNG]

The response got politicized early, and it turned really stupid, really quick.

[Casual Friday]

Two weeks to flatten the curve...

[entropy]

BillSWPA,

Your post should be read daily. Maybe even twice a day.

“Turned stupid”? I agree. In fact, I’ll take it two steps further. People should be in jail. For life.

[Joe S]

The response got politicized early, and it turned really stupid, really quick.

This. And now, it continues to be stupid, with most folks doubling down on whatever stupid stance was handed to them. I blame the party represented by the four-legged herbivorous mammal.

I'm not saying it's something new, but it sure seems bad now.

It's so weird to me how much what's supposed to be "current events" reminds me of 80's pro-wrestling.

[DrkBlue]

Everyone is right, no matter what side you are on.

My metro area has an interesting COVID paradox. The inner city schools spent most of two years locked out. The suburban schools closed initially but partially reopened in the 20-21 school year. The 21-22 year was effectively all in person for suburban kids. Results were predictable - no discernible difference in epidemiology but absolutely a massive gap in the academic achievement.

In our case, the most diverse and economically disadvantaged student body lost those two years of schooling. Violence is up in the inner city schools, in-person and virtual attendance continues to decline, graduation rates are setting new lows, etc. I mention this because the negative impact is not going to be universally distributed, but the most disadvantaged got screwed. The COVID result is only to open the gulf further.

What worries me most is if the lesson will be learned?
We see Omicron ripping through Shanghai presently because the zero case mentality is facing a much higher R=O infectiousness. The Chinese government is potentially facing very serious political impacts from a nastier bug than the original… The comes around, goes around cycle is sometimes just fun to watch.

[overton]

Looking at just COVID deaths is the wrong approach.
Is it a reasonable tradeoff to trash due process, equal protection, protection against taking property without compensation, freedom of association, etc. for perceived temporary safety? Not if you value living in a free society.

"Mercy" killing the generation 65+ to protect the public health system was the Swedish way- thanks to NATURE that is clear now:


"Many elderly people were administered morphine instead of oxygen despite available supplies, effectively ending their lives." (without consent from them or their relatives!)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-022-01097-5

BBC reported early on:

"They told us that we shouldn't send anyone to the hospital, even if they may be 65 and have many years to live. We were told not to send them in," says Latifa Löfvenberg, a nurse who worked in several care homes around Gävle, north of Stockholm, at the beginning of the pandemic. "Some can have a lot of years left to live with loved ones, but they don't have the chance... because they never make it to the hospital," she says. "They suffocate to death. And it's a lot of panic and it's very hard to just stand by and watch."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52704836

Commie (public) health systems will always get rid of the weak ones first.

[Joe in PNG]

Tyranny makes leaders do the stupid thing. The more power a leader has, the more likely he's going to take the stupid choice.

I would love to see the idea that tyranny is cruel, but efficient get dumped with a lot of other stupid ideas people have. Not only is tyranny mean and cruel, it's also quite inefficient and tends to make things fall apart.