Coronavirus
New Johns Hopkins Study: “Lockdowns Have Had Little To No Public Health Effects” And “Imposed Enormous Economic and Social Costs”
“Lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument”
Published
1 year agoon
Steve Watson

A new study out of the renowned Johns Hopkins University has concluded that global lockdowns have had a much more detrimental impact on society than they have produced any benefit, with researchers urging that they “are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”
The study was authored by Jonas Herby, special advisor at Center for Political Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark; Lars Jonung, professor emeritus in economics at Lund University, Sweden; and Steve H. Hanke, a Professor of Applied Economics and Founder & Co-Director of The Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise.
The authors wrote that “While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted.”
The focus of the study, according to the authors was to “determine whether there is empirical evidence to support the belief that ‘lockdowns’ reduce COVID-19 mortality.”
The researchers defined lockdowns as “any government mandate that directly restrict peoples’ possibilities, such as policies that limit internal movement, close schools and businesses, and ban international travel.”
The researchers further noted that “To answer our question, we focused on studies that examine the actual impact of lockdowns on COVID-19 mortality rates based on registered cross-sectional mortality data and a counterfactual difference in-difference approach.”
In other words, did lockdowns reduce COVID deaths?
The conclusion is no.
“Lockdowns have had little to no effect on COVID-19 mortality. More specifically, stringency index studies find that lockdowns in Europe and the United States only reduced COVID-19 mortality by 0.2% on average,” the study notes.
It adds “shelter-in-placeorders (SIPOs) were also ineffective, only reducing COVID-19 mortality by 2.9% on average,” further noting “Specific non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) studies also find no broad-based evidence of noticeable effects on COVID-19 mortality.”
In other words, lockdowns don’t do anything to save people from COVID.
The authors concluded, “our meta-analysis fails to confirm that lockdowns have had a large, significant effect on mortality rates.”
In a further analysis of “lockdown vs. no lockdown, facemasks, closing non-essential businesses, border closures, school closures, and limiting gatherings,” the study also found “no broad-based evidence of noticeable effects on COVID-19 mortality.”
The findings bolster a host of previous scientific findings that all conclude lockdowns are ineffective instruments of virus control, and have actually caused more damage to people’s health and well being.
Stanford University professor of medicine Jay Bhattacharya noted last year that in years to come lockdowns will be looked back upon as the most catastrophically harmful policy in “all of history”.
The epidemiologist added “Every single poor person on the face of the earth has faced some harm, sometimes catastrophic harm, from this lockdown policy,” adding that “We will be counting the catastrophic health and psychological harms, imposed on nearly every poor person on the face of the earth, for a generation.”
A peer reviewed study by Stanford researchers found that mandatory lockdowns do not provide more benefits to stopping the spread of COVID-19 than voluntary measures such as social distancing.
The researchers found “no clear, significant beneficial effect of [more restrictive measures] on case growth in any country.”
The effects of lockdown have been devastating, with leading cancer charities in the UK warning that there is a crisis underway with huge numbers of people not receiving referrals or treatment because they’ve been told to stay at home and not to burden the National Health Service.
According to Professor Karol Sikora, an NHS consultant oncologist, there could be 50,000 excess deaths from cancer as a result of routine screenings being suspended during the lockdown in the UK.
Professor Richard Sullivan also warned that there will be more excess cancer deaths in the UK than total coronavirus deaths due to people’s access to screenings and treatment being restricted as a result of the lockdown.
His comments were echoed by Peter Nilsson, a Swedish professor of internal medicine and epidemiology at Lund University, who said, “It’s so important to understand that the deaths of COVID-19 will be far less than the deaths caused by societal lockdown when the economy is ruined.”
A major study by German scientists at Munich University also found that lockdowns had no effect on reducing the country’s coronavirus infection rate.
“Statisticians at Munich University found “no direct connection” between the German lockdown and falling infection rates in the country,” reported the Telegraph.
As we also previously reported, Academics from Duke, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins have concluded that there could be around a million excess deaths over the next two decades as a result of lockdowns.
The World Health Organization’s Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge also warned governments should stop enforcing lockdowns, unless as a “last resort,” because the impact on other areas of health and mental well-being is more damaging.
NEW: WHO Europe Director, Hans Kluge tells me, no government should enforce another national lockdown unless it is absolutely necessary, a last resort
— Darren McCaffrey (@darrenmccaffrey) October 13, 2020
He says damage to other health areas, mental health, domestic violence, schools and cancer treatment is too great pic.twitter.com/jzbh9YbH7z
Kluge’s warning matched that of the WHO’s special envoy on COVID-19, Dr David Nabarro, who told the Spectator in an interview that world leaders should stop imposing lockdowns as a reflex reaction because they are making “poor people an awful lot poorer.”
WATCH: Dr David Nabarro, the WHO's Special Envoy on Covid-19, tells Andrew Neil: 'We really do appeal to all world leaders: stop using lockdown as your primary control method'. Watch the full interview here: https://t.co/XLdaedsKVS #SpectatorTV @afneil | @davidnabarro pic.twitter.com/1M4xf3VnXQ
— The Spectator (@spectator) October 9, 2020
The warnings resonate with numerous other experts who have desperately tried to warn governments that lockdowns will end up killing more people than the virus itself, but have been largely ignored.
Germany’s Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Gerd Muller, warned that COVID-19 lockdowns will result in “one of the biggest” hunger and poverty crises in history.
“We expect an additional 400,000 deaths from malaria and HIV this year on the African continent alone,” Muller said, adding that “half a million more will die from tuberculosis.”
Muller’s comments arrived months after a leaked study from inside the German Ministry of the Interior revealed that the impact of the country’s lockdown could end up killing more people than the coronavirus due to victims of other serious illnesses not receiving treatment.
Another study found that lockdowns will conservatively “destroy at least seven times more years of human life” than they save.
A Guardian analysis has found that there have been thousands of excess deaths of people at home in the UK due to the lockdown.
Government data showed that England’s lockdown caused an extra 1 million people to become addicted to alcohol since the start of the pandemic.
Figures released by the the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed that there were 8,974 deaths “from alcohol-specific causes” in 2020, an 18.6% increase compared with 2019.
Experts in the fields of health, academia and charity have warned that the lockdown in the UK is creating a runaway pandemic of anxiety and depression. Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind said “It’s no understatement to say that the nation is facing a mental health pandemic.” Since the lockdowns, hospitals have reported an explosion in suicides and intentional injury.
Infectious diseases expert and University of Edinburgh professor Mark Woolhouse acknowledged that the decision to lockdown the UK was a “crude measure” that was enacted because “we couldn’t think of anything better to do.”
Woolhouse said the lockdown was a “panic measure” and a “monumental mistake on a global scale,” adding “I believe the harm lockdown is doing to our education, health care access, and broader aspects of our economy and society will turn out to be at least as great as the harm done by COVID-19.”
Another infectious diseases expert Professor Steven Riley warned that current research “certainly doesn’t support the conclusion that lockdown is working.”
As we further previously highlighted, a data analyst consortium in South Africa found that the economic consequences of the country’s lockdown will lead to 29 times more people dying than the coronavirus itself.
Experts have also warned that there will be 1.4 million deaths globally from untreated TB infections due to lockdowns.
In addition, a study published in The Lancet that notes “physical distancing, school closures, trade restrictions, and country lockdowns” are worsening global child malnutrition.
Thousands of doctors and scientists are also on record as opposing lockdown measures, warning that they will cause more death than the coronavirus itself.
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Coronavirus
Rand Paul: “I Wouldn’t Vaccinate My Children For COVID”
Says Fauci “weaponized the government”
Published
7 days agoon
24 March, 2023Steve Watson

Senator Rand Paul stated Thursday that he would not allow his children to have a COVID vaccine, citing increased cases of heart inflammation, and calling the risk to children from the virus “non-existent.”
“I, frankly, wouldn’t vaccinate my children for COVID,” Paul told The Hill’s Rising, adding “I think the risks of the vaccine are greater than the risks of the disease. The risks of the disease are almost non-existent.”
The Senator also described the push for multiple vaccinations for children as “malpractice,” stating “If you want to give them a vaccine and they’ve already had COVID, why not one instead of three?”
“I think it really is malpractice,” Paul said, adding “There is room to debate… but I don’t think there’s any evidence to give three vaccines.”
Watch:
Paul’s comments come in the wake of a Senate hearing Wednesday during which he pointed out that Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel was lying to the public about the elevated risk of myocarditis in boys following vaccination.
ICYMI yesterday I went head-to-head with the Moderna CEO for failing to concede to the studies showing cases of myocarditis due to the COVID vaccine. https://t.co/lv3VmT9jWs
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 23, 2023
After Bancel refused to acknowledge that six peer-reviewed studies have shown increases in cases of myocarditis, Paul told the Moderna CEO “I also spoke with your president just last week and he readily acknowledged in private that yes, there is an increased risk of myocarditis,” adding “The fact that you can’t say it in public is quite disturbing.”
CEO is wrong. In that age group among men, it is highest with dose 2 of the Moderna product. Exceeds that of infection.@RandPaul is correct https://t.co/qPyebdn2bb
— Vinay Prasad MD MPH (@VPrasadMDMPH) March 23, 2023
In a separate interview Thursday, Paul said of the Bancel exchange “I didn’t find him to be forthcoming or honest, particularly about the myocarditis risk.”
“The thing is they are not being honest because obviously, they are self-interested, and they love the mandates,” he added.
“About the only truthful thing he said was the demand for the vaccine is going down, so he’s got to raise the price,” Paul asserted.
The Senator also accused Anthony Fauci of ‘weaponising’ government to get people on board with a COVID lab leak cover up.
“This guy weaponized the NIAD. He weaponized it to get his supporters,” Paul emphasised, adding “At first, they said, ‘My goodness. It came from a lab.’ And then, all of a sudden, they changed their mind. They got more money. They got more grants.”
“He used that grant-making authority — who gets it — and he weaponized government to get what he wanted,” Paul urged, adding “and that was the cover-up.”
@RandPaul on Fauci cashing in off the Covid vaccine: $400 million in total goes to the NIH and even if it’s goes back out in grants, it’s still self-interested. Fauci was in charge of dispensing all this money while being a policy maker. pic.twitter.com/7DjXvinvHk
— Jesse Watters Primetime (@jesseprimetime) March 23, 2023
Full interview below:
Related:
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Coronavirus
Entire US Congress Votes To Declassify COVID-19 Origins Intel
Published
3 weeks agoon
12 March, 2023Zero Hedge

100% of lawmakers in the House on Friday voted to pass a bill requiring the Biden administration to declassify intelligence related to investigations into the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China and Covid-19.
The Covid Origins Act of 2023, sponsored by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Mike Braun (R-IN), passed by a vote of 410 to 0, after clearing the Senate by unanimous consent last week.
“Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc across the country with almost every household feeling its effects. The United States death toll from this virus has surpassed one million people. Although concrete data is hard to lock down, millions of people are suffering from the long-term effects directly attributed to this virus. It is becoming increasingly clear that school-aged children face hurdles because of long-term school closures. The American people need to know all the aspects, including how this virus was created and specifically, whether it was a natural occurrence of the result of a lab-related event,” said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) in a floor speech.
Next stop, President Biden’s desk.
And while Biden has officially said he hasn’t “made that decision yet” over whether to sign it into law and release the intelligence, we can’t imagine he won’t, lest he defy the entirety of Congress.
The House passed S. 619 – A bill to require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information relating to the origin of COVID-19, and for other purposes by a vote of 419-0. https://t.co/ElZcCjm8yq
— House Press Gallery (@HouseDailyPress) March 10, 2023
So, what will we get? Probably what’s already known; that the FBI and the Energy Department believe with ‘moderate’ and ‘low’ confidence respectively that Covid-19 likely arose from a laboratory leak – while four other agencies and a national intelligence panel continue to believe that the pandemic was likely the result of zoonotic spillover.
Will the disclosure point to door #1 – that Dr. Anthony Fauci offshored previously-banned Gain-of-Function bat covid research in a scientific collaboration on Chinese soil where it escaped (intentionally or otherwise)?
Or door #2 – that bats from a cave 450 miles away with a strain of Covid 96.8% similar to Covid-19 infected an intermediary species, of which either (or both) emerged with Covid-19 at a Wuhan wet market across town from the aforementioned Fauci-funded lab where they were infecting ‘humanized’ mice with Covid strains? A relatively rare occurrence according to the WIV in 2018.
The DEFUSE grant is the closest thing we have to a lab notebook of coronavirus researchers in Wuhan prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
— Alex Washburne (@WashburneAlex) March 11, 2023
That 2018 grant could predict genomic & geographic anomalies of SARS-CoV-2 better than I could predict the winning PowerBall numbers. https://t.co/xOtPcJ2DME
Or Door #3, that China went rogue, stole Peter Daszak’s crazy plans (which DARPA turned down), and started going bat-covid crazy?
China has a long history of stealing trade secrets for "national security".
— Alex Washburne (@WashburneAlex) March 11, 2023
It's entirely plausible that CCP could've caught wind of DEFUSE from Zheng-Li and funded it entirely within China to develop a vaccine under combined economic & health 'national security' justifications.
What we do know is that there were ‘humanized’ mice being bred in China in mid-2019, long before the outbreak in Wuhan. As Vanity Fair noted almost two years ago – a May 2020 Chinese research paper describing mice which had lung tissue that approximated a human’s (via National Review):
Using the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR, the researchers had engineered mice with humanized lungs, then studied their susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2. As the NSC officials worked backward from the date of publication to establish a timeline for the study, it became clear that the mice had been engineered sometime in the summer of 2019, before the pandemic even started. The NSC officials were left wondering: Had the Chinese military been running viruses through humanized mouse models, to see which might be infectious to humans?
And as journalist Josh Rogin wrote in Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the 21st Century (again, via National Review):
After consultations with experts, some U.S. officials came to believe that this Beijing lab was likely conducting coronavirus experiments on mice fitted with ACE2 receptors well before the coronavirus outbreak — research they hadn’t disclosed and continued to not admit to. That, by itself, did not help to explain how SARS-CoV-2 originated. But it did make clear to U.S. officials that there was a lot of risky coronavirus experiments going on in Chinese labs that the rest of the world was simply not aware of. “This was just a peek under a curtain of an entire galaxy of activity, including labs in Beijing and Wuhan playing around with coronaviruses in ACE2 mice in unsafe labs,” the senior administration official said. “It suggests we’re getting a peek at a body of activity that isn’t understood in the West or even has precedent here.”
And how much of that was done with knowledge, funding or collaboration from entities outside of China?
China contacted Hawley’s office on Wednesday to object to the bill, telling him that its only purpose is to “politicize and stigmatize China.”
“The move by the U.S. Congress just shows that the U.S. is going further and further down the wrong path of political manipulation. The so-called traceability report by the U.S. intelligence agency is an attempt to ‘presume guilt’ on China. It is an attempt to shift the blame from its own failure to fight the epidemic to China,” wrote government attorney Li Xiang.
SCOOP: A Chinese govt official sent this letter to the office of Sen. @HawleyMO yesterday, criticizing Congress for the COVID Origin Act that he introduced in late February pic.twitter.com/yJPsk9Zxok
— Liz Elkind (@liz_elkind) March 9, 2023
Does Congress ever do things unanimously?
This post was originally published at Zero HedgeCoronavirus
Video: Fauci DEFENDS Gain Of Function, Mocks Lab Leak Censorship
“The whole scientific community feels that you have to have some degree of being able to manipulate organisms”
Published
3 weeks agoon
10 March, 2023Steve Watson

In a remarkable interview Thursday, Anthony Fauci had the gall to defend dangerous gain of function research, which in all likelihood was the direct cause of the COVID pandemic, and mocked the idea that a lab leak is being covered up.
Appearing on Fox News, Fauci told anchor Neil Cavuto “If you shut off all gain of function research. Did you get the flu shot this year, Neil? If you did, and you got it from an influenza vaccine, that was gain-of-function that made that influenza vaccine. That’s what people don’t understand.”
Fauci twice suggested that he should be “taken out of this,” reasoning that “I’m a charged person,” and went on to argue the case for gain of function research, which makes pathogens more deadly.
“The whole scientific community feels that you have to have some degree of being able to manipulate organisms,” Fauci claimed, adding “When you do it, you have to do it carefully and under very controlled conditions.”
All the while, Fauci was again careful not to define exactly what gain of function is, having previously changed the definition to cover his own culpability.
When asked if the research serves any value, Fauci stated “It depends on what your definition of gain of function is,” going on to say “Look at a whole array of virologists and scientists who do research that is absolutely critical for the health of the country. Some of that involves manipulating organisms. You want to call it gain of function. It really is not, in many respects, but it needs to be very well-regulated.”
Fauci also mocked the idea that discussion of a potential Wuhan coronavirus lab leak was dismissed and suppressed, after Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, suggested that Fauci bribed scientists into silence on the matter with a $9 million grant.
WATCH: @Jim_Jordan DEMOLISHES Fauci’s COVID origins story pic.twitter.com/k9muabjAS7
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) March 8, 2023
Jordan was referring to testimony earlier this month by Dr. Marty Makary, a professor at Johns Hopkins, who charged that two scientists who believed that COVID-19 leaked from a lab changed their minds after receiving the $9 million grant from Fauci.
Dr. @MartyMakary: Two top virologists warned Fauci about the lab leak in 2020, but “changed their tunes days later in the media, and then both scientists received $9 million subsequent in funding from the @NIH” pic.twitter.com/k3Va3cIjwk
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 1, 2023
“I almost have to laugh at that, Neil. That’s totally bizarre,” Fauci responded, going on to explain “First of all, I wasn’t leaning totally strongly one way or the other. I’ve always kept an open mind. As the data evolved and evolutionary virologists looked at the data, it looked more likely it was a natural occurrence from an animal reservoir.”
“I have always kept a completely open mind that it could be one or the other. Quite frankly, the evidence weighs more likely towards one, namely a natural occurrence,” Fauci claimed.
“The other absolutely preposterous thing that Jim Jordan said was that we gave the investigators $9 million bribe to change their mind. Is he kidding me?” Fauci further stated.
He continued, “They put in a grant about a year and a half before this all happened. The grant was reviewed by a peer review and put before an independent council and approved before the meeting even took place.”
“So to assume that they were getting a $9 million grant because of the fact that we tried to get them to change their mind is beyond ludicrous. Beyond ludicrous,” Fauci asserted.
Earlier this week, Senator Rand Paul accused Fauci, along with other scientists working with him at the National Institutes Of Health of engaging in an “elaborate cover-up” of the lab origin of the coronavirus pandemic in order to hide their own involvement.
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