Study Shows Lockdowns Don't Reduce Covid Deaths (So Why Are Democrats Still Pushing Them?)

A recent study published by Frontiers in Public Health reveals that government mitigation policies such as lockdowns have no impact on covid-19 mortality rates.

The study surveyed data from countries registering over 10 deaths from covid. They found what I long suspected. Higher death rates were associated with countries with higher rates of non-communicable conditions such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. Countries where people have bad diets and don’t exercise, like the US, unsurprisingly have the highest mortality rates.

The study found other inherent factors that contributed to more deaths.

Countries in higher latitudes with a lower UV index saw more deaths. Likewise, developed countries that had plateaued in lengthening life expectancy, and thus where a larger proportion of the population is elderly, also saw more deaths.

Lockdowns and other stringent anti-pandemic measures don't correlate with a lower mortality rate and are NOT an effective tool in fighting covid. If anything, they may make things worse. Barring people from going to the gym, exercising outside, and getting sunlight makes them more susceptible to acute illness over the long run. Secondly, lockdowns have mental health impacts. There have already been several cases of suicides, particularly among children, related to the lockdowns. Lastly, the economic stress caused by lockdowns will no doubt have negative health impacts.

This begs the question: if lockdowns don’t impact the number of covid deaths, why are they still happening?

It’s easy to imagine that Democratic governors are power-hungry technocrats or globalists who are bent on destroying an autonomous middle and plebeian class, forcing everyone into dependency through a combination of ratcheted-up measures of control and economic disaster-ing their way into compliance. Others believe the same Democratic governors wanted to exacerbate the problem and make people's lives worse to blame Trump.

There is a simpler explanation. When faced with crises, our natural tendency is to do something to address it, even if the measures we take are ineffective or make problems worse. This is especially true of the manager class. Democrats, for their part, have a decadent and maximalist approach to government, believing that interventionist policies should address a wide range of issues and attempt to solve every problem, something I’ve described elsewhere as 'Big Sister' or the 'Mammy State.' Even when there isn’t a problem, modern liberals are bound to find one and roll out a convoluted ‘solution.’ They have no real vision, yet they overreach on everything, often in the most effete yet cumbersome ways.

Ironically, there are real measures governments could take to mediate deaths from covid. But they’re the opposite of the ones that Democrats (and Republicans) talk about.

They include things like:

- Not just opening the gyms back up, but opening more gyms. A lot more, and a lot more types. Forgoing universal healthcare for universal fitness care.

- Encouraging people to spend more time outdoors, moving around in the sunshine and fresh air. Creating space and designing parks, neighbors, and streets to better facilitate active, healthy lifestyles. 

- Generally taking health seriously instead of looking at it as a woke sociology project. Stop the fat acceptance nonsense.

- Ensuring that people get enough key nutrients like zinc and vitamin D.

- Banning soft drinks and other foods, along with chemical agricultural agents, that contribute to hormonal disruption, obesity, immunity suppression, diabetes, and cancer.

These policies, not lockdowns, would not only make populations more resilient in the face of pandemics like covid-19, but they would reduce mortality from a range of communicable diseases and non-communicable conditions. Better yet, they would prolong and enrich life generally.

Lockdowns don't work. The science says so.

Reference:

Larochelambert, Q. D., et al. (2020). Covid-19 mortality: A matter of vulnerability among nations facing margins of adaption. Frontiers in Public Health. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.604339/full#SM6