Tag: Lockdowns

Nobody would propose going into lockdown if they looked at the current numbers. So why why have we not come out of lockdown? As Daniel Hannan argues, the answer could be status quo bias.

In a new paper, the economist Douglas Allen reviews the literature on the costs and benefits of lockdown. He concludes that the costs of Canada's lockdown far outweighed the benefits.

Lockdown proponents often argue that case numbers always go down after a lockdown is imposed. However, there are several countries where a lockdown was imposed, but case numbers did not immediately decline.

US states which locked down this winter had more Covid deaths per million than those which did not. An update with new data and a look at why, despite their intuitive appeal, lockdowns don't work.

"Boris does seem to need the approval of his peers in Whitehall and is a great appeaser," says Dr Timothy Bradshaw. "He caves in everywhere, at the expense of ordinary people on behalf of massive corporations."

Michigan is doing worse than Texas because people are ignoring the lockdown, Anthony Fauci tells Congress. Do feeble answers like this suggest lockdownism is collapsing?

Why have the British people overwhelmingly backed the lockdowns? One possible reason is that they overestimate the risks of COVID-19, especially the risks to young people.

Sweden's low excess mortality in 2020 undermines the pro-lockdown case. Defenders often counter that Sweden fared badly compared to its neighbours. There are several reasons why this is a bad argument, says Dr Noah Carl.

Academics who produce models predicting doom for places which don't lock down should be challenged to hindcast for states which stay open. If they can't get the past right, why should we trust them for the future?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who kept his state open all winter, has given a new interview where he talks of his regret in locking down and the challenges he faced reopening in the face of fierce opposition.