Study Says COVID-19 Lockdowns had 'Little to No Effect' on Mortality Rate
Summary from the AllSides News Team
COVID-19 lockdowns in the U.S. and Europe "should be rejected out of hand as a pandemic policy instrument," according to researchers led by the head of Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics.
The group's 62-page study found that lockdowns "reduced COVID-19 mortality by 0.2% on average," while also "reducing economic activity, raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence, and undermining liberal democracy." Researchers conducted a statistical analysis combining the results of multiple scientific studies on COVID-19 and public health lockdowns. It was co-authored by Scandinavian economic advisers Jonas Herby and Lars Jonung, along with Steve H. Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University. Some researchers suggested early in the pandemic that lockdowns were among the best ways to curb the pandemic and reduce COVID-19 mortality; other scientists opposed lockdowns from the beginning and argued that they'd do more harm than good.
Very few left- and center-rated outlets covered the research. Right-rated news outlets covered it prominently, and tended to highlight scientists who condemned lockdowns as ineffective early in the pandemic. Right-rated voices often framed the study as more evidence of COVID-19 public health restrictions not working, being based on faulty science, and harming society by keeping businesses closed and kids out of school. Snopes (Lean Left bias) highlighted the fact that the paper hasn't been peer-reviewed or endorsed by Johns Hopkins. A report from Fortune mentions that the lead researchers "are clearly free marketers," but also that "their academic standing, the vast quantities of data they analyzed, and their sophisticated methodology make a strong case for their conclusions." Updated 2/4/22 to reflect Snopes's coverage.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Center
3 prominent economists slam COVID lockdowns and school closures and say they should never happen again
When the COVID outbreak began in early 2020, a number of studies predicted that government-imposed lockdowns would prove highly effective in preventing deaths. A widely cited epidemiological paper by researchers at Imperial College London predicted that such measures as bans on travel and shelter-in-place mandates would reduce mortality from the virus by 98%. But now, a new analysis by three prominent economists that surveys all empirical data from the academic literature measuring the relationship between death and lockdowns finds that forced restrictions didn’t work. Their conclusion: Lockdowns reduced mortalities by...
From the Right
Lockdowns Reduced COVID Mortality Only 0.2 Percent: Johns Hopkins Analysis
An analysis of studies released last month by Johns Hopkins University indicated that lockdowns in the spring of 2020 reduced COVID-19 mortality by only 0.2% in the U.S. and Europe, Fox News reported.
Johns Hopkins University economics professor Steve Hanke, Lund University economics professor Lars Jonung, and Jonas Herby, special adviser at Copenhagen's Center for Political Studies, analyzed various studies regarding how school shutdowns, business closings and mask mandates affected the COVID-19 death rate.
''While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and...
From the Right
Johns Hopkins Analysis: ‘Lockdowns Should be Rejected Out of Hand’
The aura of “expert” has lost its luster during Covid, as our supposedly bigger brains have been proved wrong repeatedly.
Two of these have been Ezekiel Emanuel and Anthony Fauci. Both were enthusiastic proponents of societal lockdowns as a means of preventing deaths and the spread of Covid. We now know from a Johns Hopkins blockbuster meta-analysis that “shutting it down,” in Donald Trump’s awkward phrase, did very little to prevent deaths.
It’s a long, arcane, and detailed analysis, and I can’t present every nuance or statistic here. But I think these are...
AllSides Picks
May 11th, 2024
May 10th, 2024
May 9th, 2024
More News about Coronavirus from the Left, Center and Right
From the Left
From the Center
From the Right
