Johns Hopkins Study Finds That Lockdowns Saved Barely Any Lives
After two years of coronavirus lockdowns across the world, millions of us have wondered aloud just how effective these drastic measures were. Well, now we have some research from the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics to refer to.
A group of researchers analyzed multiple studies that were gathered from the beginning of the coronavirus lockdowns to find out whether they were effective whatsoever in saving lives. The short answer is, hardly any lives were saved as a result of these lockdowns. Can't say we're surprised.
The Lockdowns Only Reduced Mortality Rates by 0.2% on Average
This revealing research was led by the founder of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Steve Hanke. He worked with a Swedish professor who is also a special adviser at the Center for Political Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark. The analysis found that the lockdowns administered in the U.S. and Europe only “reduced Covid-19 mortality by 0.2% on average.”
Apparently, there was “no broad-based evidence of noticeable effects on Covid-19 mortality." The only place they saw a noticeable difference was closing "non-essential businesses." The researchers found a 10.6% reduction in mortality rates from this enacting this particular policy.
There was “no broad-based evidence of noticeable effects on Covid-19 mortality."
The Lockdowns Caused Much More Harm Than Good
“Such a standard benefit-cost calculation leads to a strong conclusion: lockdowns should be rejected out of hand as a pandemic policy instrument,” the researchers said. They found that the lockdowns reduced economics activity, "raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence, and undermining liberal democracy."
In only two years, the widespread effects of the lockdowns are already being felt. This is what the lockdowns created:
Suicide attempts among adolescent girls surged by more than 50% during pandemic (CDC)
Suicide attempts among children 15 or younger doubled
More than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021, a record high
12 US cities saw record high murder rates in 2021
Domestic violence cases increased by 25-33 percent globally in 2020 (American Journal of Emergency Medicine)
Nearly 7 in 10 women said domestic violence increased in their community since the pandemic began, per a survey by the United Nations agency for gender equality
Furthermore, the research also suggested that the lockdowns actually increased the rate of contagion as people were more likely to pass on the virus to vulnerable loved ones in their home.
Countless people have been saying these exact things for years now. But before this research was conducted, those of us who dared to question the efficacy of the lockdowns were gaslit and called conspiracy theorists, even anti-vaxxers, etc. But now that we're seeing studies that show the negative effects of the stay-at-home measures, let's hope we can move away from any and all lockdown policies moving forward.