• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Lockdown Was Necessary to Prevent “Extraordinarily High Loss of Life”, Chris Whitty Tells Covid Inquiry – Despite Sweden

by Will Jones
22 November 2023 5:07 PM

What fresh nonsense is this, coming out of the mouth of Chris Whitty in his second day of evidence at the Covid Inquiry?

Listeners-in today were treated to yet another plateful of steaming tripe from the Chief Medical Officer.

First, he claimed that by the end of October 2020 ministers “did not have much choice” but to impose a second lockdown because infection rates had risen too high. Asked by inquiry counsel Hugo Keith KC, in his characteristically leading way, whether the second lockdown could have been avoided if the tier system of staggered restrictions had been imposed earlier, Whitty said: “I think most people would say that’s the case.” Had tiered restrictions had more time to work “there remains the possibility that the second lockdown might not have been necessary or might not have been as long”, he added.

This is palpable nonsense, of course. The beginnings of the tier system appeared in June 2020 when the first ‘local lockdown’ of Leicester was imposed, with similar measures subsequently extended to other areas, especially in the North. How many months of lockdown does Dr. Whitty think are needed for them to work? It was pointed out at the time that none of these measures succeeded in bringing down infections, with reported new infections doubling in northern areas following the imposition of local measures.

Whitty then used his appearance today to denounce the concept of herd immunity – the sole basis on which an epidemic can end – as a “ridiculous and dangerous” idea, leading listeners to wonder whether Sir Chris has any working understanding of epidemiology at all.

Most egregiously of all, though, the Chief Medical Officer claimed it would have been “inconceivable” to make herd immunity through natural infection a policy goal because “it would have led to extraordinarily high loss of life”.

You’d think I would have become inured to this kind of moronity by now, it being the constant fare of the inquiry and the whole ill-informed mainstream discourse on Covid. But it never ceases to astound me that our top medics and scientists can make such baseless claims despite so much depending on them getting this stuff right.

Extraordinarily high loss of life? Do we really need to to wheel out, once again, in late 2023, the examples of places which did not lock down and experienced outcomes no worse than elsewhere. Sweden, most obviously, whose trajectory was the same as other countries. Florida (after April 2020). South Dakota. Belarus. Tanzania. Clearly, we do.

Where is Sweden’s extraordinarily high loss of life? Or Florida’s? Or South Dakota’s? Claims like Whitty’s still feel like they’re stuck in March 2020, when Neil Ferguson was going round scaring everyone with his silly models that massively over-predicted the impact of the virus everywhere, including Sweden.

But from the inquiry counsel came no probing at all of Whitty’s baseless claim. And so once again a lockdown-supporting myth with no evidence is reinforced, to be echoed we presume in the predetermined conclusions of this biased inquiry.

Tags: Covid InquiryCOVID-19FloridaLockdownModellingSir Chris WhittySwedenThe Science

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Voters Are Worried About High Immigration – But Not Enough to Support the Politicians Who Will Do Something About It

Next Post

The Death of Merit

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

44 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

The Sceptic EP.38: Chris Bayliss on the Commonwealth Voting Scandal, Sarah Phillimore on the Bar’s Scrapped EDI Plans and Eugyppius on ‘White Genocide’

by Richard Eldred
30 May 2025
0

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

There Will Be No Climate Catastrophe: MIT Professor Dr Richard Lindzen

29 May 2025
by Hannes Sarv

German Pensioner Receives 75-Day Prison Sentence in Latest Speech Crime Scandal to Hit the Federal Republic

29 May 2025
by Eugyppius

News Round-Up

30 May 2025
by Toby Young

Miliband Accused of Pitting “Neighbours Against Neighbours” After Scrapping Heat Pump Rule

29 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

‘Woke’ Rail Company Fails to Mention Women in Free Tampon Scheme

29 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

There Will Be No Climate Catastrophe: MIT Professor Dr Richard Lindzen

25

German Pensioner Receives 75-Day Prison Sentence in Latest Speech Crime Scandal to Hit the Federal Republic

21

Trump is Handing Africa to the Chinese for the Sake of Social Media Clout

24

News Round-Up

16

China Backs Starmer’s Chagos Deal

14

Trump is Handing Africa to the Chinese for the Sake of Social Media Clout

29 May 2025
by Noah Carl

Hooked on Freedom: Why Medical Autonomy Matters

29 May 2025
by Dr David Bell

So Renters WILL Pay the Costs of Net Zero

29 May 2025
by Ben Pile

The Net Zero Agenda’s Continued Collapse Into Chaos

28 May 2025
by Ben Pile

Alasdair MacIntyre 1929-2025

27 May 2025
by James Alexander

POSTS BY DATE

November 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  
« Oct   Dec »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

POSTS BY DATE

November 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  
« Oct   Dec »

DONATE

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

There Will Be No Climate Catastrophe: MIT Professor Dr Richard Lindzen

29 May 2025
by Hannes Sarv

German Pensioner Receives 75-Day Prison Sentence in Latest Speech Crime Scandal to Hit the Federal Republic

29 May 2025
by Eugyppius

News Round-Up

30 May 2025
by Toby Young

Miliband Accused of Pitting “Neighbours Against Neighbours” After Scrapping Heat Pump Rule

29 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

‘Woke’ Rail Company Fails to Mention Women in Free Tampon Scheme

29 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

There Will Be No Climate Catastrophe: MIT Professor Dr Richard Lindzen

25

German Pensioner Receives 75-Day Prison Sentence in Latest Speech Crime Scandal to Hit the Federal Republic

21

Trump is Handing Africa to the Chinese for the Sake of Social Media Clout

24

News Round-Up

16

China Backs Starmer’s Chagos Deal

14

Trump is Handing Africa to the Chinese for the Sake of Social Media Clout

29 May 2025
by Noah Carl

Hooked on Freedom: Why Medical Autonomy Matters

29 May 2025
by Dr David Bell

So Renters WILL Pay the Costs of Net Zero

29 May 2025
by Ben Pile

The Net Zero Agenda’s Continued Collapse Into Chaos

28 May 2025
by Ben Pile

Alasdair MacIntyre 1929-2025

27 May 2025
by James Alexander

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences