The Lockdown Tragedy

This is Part 3 of Covid-19: Sceptics Have Reasons.

“Oppressors have always wanted people to believe their lives are fated, that they live in a prison and there is no escape. It is the key to successful slavery. Many institutionalized religions have promoted such a belief, contradicting their founders’ messages of freedom. So have secular ideologies. There is nothing you can do, so rollover with Beethoven; it’s hopeless. ‘Do what you’re told,’ as the great wise leader Anthony Fauci has said.”
What Time Is It in Lockdown?

What those claiming the moral high ground forget is that “lives” are not only their own lives or the lives they can see. They have no awareness of the precarious nature of life in the profit machine. Lockdowns have not demonstrated to be effective at curbing the disease (emphasis added):

“[T]he present Covid-inspired forced lockdowns on business and school closures are and have been counterproductive, not sustainable and are, quite frankly, meritless and unscientific. They have been disastrous and just plain wrong! There has been no good reason for this.” – AEIR
“If I were thinking of running a clinical trial where the hypothesis was that a lockdown was the best way to prevent deaths from COVID, then I would start by looking at observational data such as this. I would find that the ten countries in the world with the highest death rates all locked down at similar times, with similar restrictions. […] In fact, the evidence up to this point could suggest that lockdowns may actually increase the death rate.” – RT
“We can discern no sign in the data that general lockdowns have any beneficial impact on epidemic mortality curves. International comparison reveals that stringency is associated neither with reduced deaths nor with increased duration to peak.” – PANDA
“Since the so-called ‘second wave’ began in the autumn, the public has been forced to endure regional lockdowns, another national lockdown and ever more complicated tiers of restrictions. Yet none of these authoritarian bureaucratic impositions have proved effective. […] Lockdowns cannot eradicate the disease or protect the public. […] Scientifically, medically and morally lockdowns have no justification in dealing with Covid. […] The ineffectiveness of lockdowns was highlighted by the Lancet medical journal recently in which it examined their impact across the world. It concluded that restrictions – no matter how tough or loose – showed no relation to the measured infection rates.” – Daily Mail
“Claimed benefits of lockdown appear grossly exaggerated.” – Effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19: A Tale of Three Models
“National lockdowns are medieval, unscientific, counter productive & politically amateur.” – Maajid Nawaz
“While small benefits cannot be excluded, we do not find significant benefits on case growth of more restrictive NPIs. Similar reductions in case growth may be achievable with less-restrictive interventions.” – Assessing mandatory stay-at-home and business closure effects on the spread of COVID- 19
“[T]he use of universal lockdowns in the event of the appearance of a new pathogen has no precedent. It has been a science experiment in real time, with most of the human population used as lab rats. The costs are legion. The question is whether lockdowns worked to control the virus in a way that is scientifically verifiable. Based on the following studies, the answer is no and for a variety of reasons: bad data, no correlations, no causal demonstration, anomalous exceptions, and so on. There is no relationship between lockdowns (or whatever else people want to call them to mask their true nature) and virus control.” – AEIR
“Lockdowns have become central to any discussion of Covid-19. The assumption that lockdown is the only way to prevent Covid deaths has become embedded in mainstream thinking. Apparently, the only permitted questions are if we are locking down early enough, hard enough or for long enough. Lockdown has similarly become the default response to rises in cases (though sometimes these now take local rather than national form). But the conventional wisdom that more lockdown means fewer deaths simply does not hold true in the real world. There is globally no association, let alone causation, between lockdowns and Covid deaths.” – Spiked
“‘…government actions such as border closures, full lockdowns, and a high rate of COVID-19 testing were not associated with statistically significant reductions in the number of critical cases or overall mortality,’ the study concluded. […] ‘Stringency of the measures settled to fight pandemia, including lockdown, did not appear to be linked with death rate,’ the researchers concluded. […] ‘We would have expected to see fewer Covid-19 fatalities in countries with a tighter lockdown, but the data reveals that this is not the case,’ the researchers explained. […] ‘there’s little correlation between the severity of a nation’s restrictions and whether it managed to curb excess fatalities — a measure that looks at the overall number of deaths compared with normal trends,’ the report concludes. […] Public health officials believe they can manage a virus through effective central planning, but this is folly and hubris.” – FEE

Here’s one source looking at South Africa:

And there’s more. How much has been informed by uncompromised, high-integrity research? We can only guess in this age of hasty science, for-profit public policy, corporate censorship and power-serving echo chambers.

Watch Corbett explain an interesting fact about lockdowns here.

“Which takes us to lockdowns. The most expensive, invasive, and potentially destructive medical intervention ever attempted by humanity. Was there any evidence from anywhere, in history, that lockdowns would work? No, there was none.”
Dr Malcolm Kendrick

The lockdown experiment actually violates several points of the Nuremberg Code. Their consequences are catastrophic. You know the indisputable, overall consequences: cancer screenings were suspended, acute cardiovascular deaths increased, children and elders suffered isolation; mental health deteriorated; addictions increased, famine increased, domestic abuse increased; global vaccinations came to a halt.

The public deserve a say when the policies directly affect them

The consequences should give us pause. Let’s look at what the reports say (emphasis added).

In South Africa, the anticipated health burdens are: “Increase in incidence of malnutrition, especially among children (who did not benefit from the school feeding programme during lockdown); increases in mortality due to HIV and TB as a consequence of disruption of treatment programmes; disruption to vaccination programmes with possible associated disease outbreaks; disruption to maternal and infant care resulting in increased mother and infant mortality; disruption to cancer treatment and surgery; outbreak of infectious diseases associated with poverty, malnutrition, and disruption of vaccination; and reduced life expectancy at birth as a consequence of all of the above.”
In the UK, 220,000 people will be the total lives from this pandemic; nearly half lost to non-Covid causes such as cancelled operations and economic contraction.
According to The United Nations, poverty caused by Covid [countermeasures] could kill more people than the virus itself. It’s estimated there could be as many as 400,000 excess deaths from tuberculosis alone due to missed diagnoses. The International Monetary Fund warns that more than a decade’s worth of closing the gap between developed and emerging economies could be wiped out.
Student suicides are at alarming levels as children battle without school.
In the US, unemployment during the pandemic is expected to cause an additional 900,000 deaths as time goes on.
In Ohio, with less street activity and increased opioid abuse, sex trafficking has tripled during the pandemic.

1/ A bad day for kids in NY. From the upstate mom of a 13-year-old: “I have watched her slowly decline into a state of panic.”

(Eight screenshots, worth reading to the end, where she walks through her awful choices. Without wealth, there’s no substitute for real public school.) pic.twitter.com/Skn9R0sgus
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) January 21, 2021

From a 27-year-old in Pennsylvania: “At first the lockdown was a joke. We’d laugh at it… (Now) I start to wake up bitter, sad, and hopeless.”

We are slowly but surely ruining a generation of young adults. pic.twitter.com/xxYyj4AyyR
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) February 16, 2021

And more highlights from Cost of Lockdowns: A Preliminary Report (emphasis added):

Worldwide, around 88 to 115 million people will fall into extreme poverty this year. The total could rise to 150 million by 2021.
Worldwide, the number of undernourished individuals may increase from 690 to 822 million people.
Worldwide, hunger caused by the pandemic [response] is responsible for the deaths of 10,000 children.
Worldwide, about 24 million children may drop out of school next year as a result of the lockdown’s economic impact.
In the US, over 81,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the 12 months ending in May 2020, the highest number ever recorded in a 12-month period.
In the US, mothers of children aged 12 and younger lost 2.2 million jobs between February and August (12% drop), while fathers of small children lost 870,000 jobs (4% drop).
In the US, diagnosis for 6 cancers (breast, colorectal, lung, pancreatic, gastric, and esophageal) has declined 46.4% compared to 2018.
In the UK, (suspected) cancer referrals have decreased 75% since Covid-19 restrictions were implemented.
Worldwide, Tuberculosis case notifications dropped significantly worldwide and by 25-30% in impacted countries (India, Indonesia, the Philippines).
In the UK, a domestic abuse charity (Refuge) reported a 25% increase in calls made to helpline since the start of lockdowns.
In the US, the restaurant industry is set to lose $240 billion in revenue and 8 million employees in 2020.

“[T]he present Covid-inspired forced lockdowns on business and school closures are and have been counterproductive, not sustainable and are, quite frankly, meritless and unscientific. They have been disastrous and just plain wrong! There has been no good reason for this.
[…]
No one can point to any instance where lockdowns have worked in this Covid pandemic.
[…]
It is also noteworthy that these irrational and unreasonable restrictive actions are not limited to any one jurisdiction such as the US, but shockingly have occurred across the globe. It is stupefying as to why governments, whose primary roles are to protect their citizens, are taking these punitive actions despite the compelling evidence that these policies are misdirected and very harmful; causing palpable harm to human welfare on so many levels. It’s tantamount to insanity what governments have done to their populations and largely based on no scientific basis. None!
[…]
There is absolutely no reason to lock down, constrain and harm ordinarily healthy, well, and younger or middle-aged members of the population irreparably; the very people who will be expected to help extricate us from this factitious nightmare and to help us survive the damages caused by possibly the greatest self-inflicted public health fiasco ever promulgated on societies.”
AIER

Yet another report on the startling consequences (emphasis added):

“[A] median 70% of households across nine countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America reporting financial losses…”
“By April last year, roughly 50% or more of those surveyed in several countries were forced to eat smaller meals or skip meals altogether, a number that reached 87% for rural households in the West African country of Sierra Leone.”
“[A]fter two decades of growth in many low- and middle-income countries, the economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic threatens profound long-term impact: Reduced childhood nutrition could have health consequences later in life. Closed schools may lead to delayed development for some students, while others may simply drop out. When families use their savings to eat, rather than invest in fertilizer or farm improvements, crop yields can decline.”
“Income fell broadly. In Colombia, 87% of respondents nationwide reported lost income in the early phase of the pandemic. Such losses were reported by more than 80% of people nationwide in Rwanda and Ghana.”
“People struggled to find food. In the Philippines, 77% of respondents nationwide said they faced difficulty purchasing food because stores were closed, transport was shut down or food supplies were inadequate. Similar reports came from 68% of Colombians and 64% of respondents in Sierra Leone; rates were similar for some communities within other countries.”
“Children faced increased risk. With schools closed, the risk of educational setbacks rose. Many respondents reported delaying health care, including prenatal care and vaccinations. Some communities reported rising levels of domestic violence.”

The full impact is being catalogued at collateralglobal.org.

It’s not the virus that’s causing the most damage; it’s our extreme, unprecedented, unproven reaction. Many nations’ progress towards self-determination have been halted while power concentrates in the hands of ill-gotten wealth. It sets the stage for the recolonization of many “developing” countries.

I drive through affluent neighbourhoods now and again. Three-plus bedroom houses so no one is crammed; everybody has enough space. Yard, balcony, pool – so you can get some air and exercise. Air conditioning, so it’s comfortable indoors. High-speed internet so you can work and play remotely. Boutique mall conveniently down the road for groceries. It’s easy to cry for lockdowns when you live like this. Most people don’t. No one is asking you to feel guilty, only have some perspective. Recognize your Zoom Privilege.