Johns Hopkins study reignites COVID lockdown debate

‘They have contributed to reducing economic activity, raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence and undermining liberal democracy,’ the report noted.

A recent controversial Johns Hopkins meta-analysis reignites a discussion about the adverse consequences of lockdowns after finding they had no significant mortality benefit during the first wave of the 2020 pandemic in the United States and Europe, according to a recent report.

“We find no evidence that lockdowns, school closures, border closures and limiting gatherings have had a noticeable effect on COVID-19 mortality,” said the authors of the study, which is not peer-reviewed and reflects the authors’ views, not necessarily those of the university.

The study authors, however, did find closing nonessential businesses reduced COVID-19 mortality by 10.6%, which is likely most related to the closure of bars.

“Our study shows the benefits [of lockdowns] — in terms of fewer deaths — are questionable and small,” Jonas Herby, special advisor at the Center for Political Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark, told Fox News. Herby’s research focuses on law and economics, and he is a co-author of the study.

The meta-analysis – a survey or study of previous studies – which Herby wrote along with two other prominent economists, noted lockdowns have had “devastating effects” as society weathers the unintended consequences.

“They have contributed to reducing economic activity, raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence and undermining liberal democracy,” the report noted.

The research directly contradicts the most influential model for lockdowns led by epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, which was largely responsible for “driving the world’s response to COVID-19” that “jarred the U.S. and the U.K. to action,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Ferguson co-wrote a prominent paper in Nature published in June 2020 that estimated lockdowns in the spring of that year saved three million European lives. But the study excluded the research because it relied on modeling, according to multiple reports.

“This report on the effect of ‘lockdowns’ does not significantly advance our understanding of the relative effectiveness of the plethora of public health measures adopted by different countries to limit COVID-19 transmission,” Ferguson posted on Science Media Centre, a United Kingdom liaison of information for science and health journalists.

Ferguson resigned his government post on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies in May 2020 after breaking lockdown protocol himself when his lover, Antonia Staats, crossed London from her family home to visit him on at least two occasions while lockdown measures were imposed, according to the Guardian.

The Johns Hopkins researchers acknowledged a limitation of the study was excluding certain studies like Ferguson’s to avoid biases, such as those brought on by “time-dependent factors” like seasonality. So papers that looked at early lockdowns such as in China, which suppressed COVID-19 to very low death rates, were also not included, according to a United Kingdom report.

Nevertheless, lockdowners are now weathering the aftershocks that persist after the lockdowns have been lifted, according to multiple reports.

“There are long-term health consequences from the virus, including long COVID, and there are long-term mental health impacts from the death due to COVID-19 of a parent, spouse, grandparent, caregiver,” said Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, chair of the public health committee for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

“There are long-term health impacts of the measures used to slow down the spread of this virus.”

By the end of June 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that, due to COVID-19 concerns, approximately 41% of United States adults delayed or avoided medical care, including 12% who avoided urgent or emergency care and 32% who neglected routine care. Those findings noted a higher prevalence among people with multiple medical problems, Black and Hispanic adults, young adults and persons with disabilities, according to a past Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.