Johns Hopkins Study: Lockdowns Did Not Reduce COVID Deaths But Had ‘Devastating Effects’ On Society

(by Jamie White | InfoWars) – The unprecedented draconian COVID lockdowns had “little to no effect” on curbing coronavirus deaths, but they did leave a “devastating” impact on society, according to a Johns Hopkins University study.

The University’s “Studies in Applied Economics” institute paper called “A Literature Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Lockdowns on COVID-19 Mortality” found lockdowns during the pandemic’s early phase in 2020 only reduced COVID-19 mortality by about 0.2%.

“We find no evidence that lockdowns, school closures, border closures and limiting gatherings have had a noticeable effect on COVID-19 mortality,” the researchers wrote.

However, the lockdowns in the U.S. and Europe did have “devastating effects” on the economy and society at large, the paper claimed.

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

The meta-analysis was conducted by three professors from the U.S., Denmark, and Sweden, who defined lockdowns as compulsory, “non-pharmaceutical intervention” (NPI), such as limiting one’s movement, closing schools or businesses, or banning international travel.

The researchers then narrowed down 18,590 studies to 34 “qualified studies after three levels of review.” From there, 24 of those studies were included in the meta-analysis.

From the paper:

Finally, allow us to broaden our perspective after presenting our meta-analysis that focuses on the following question: “What does the evidence tell us about the effects of lockdowns on mortality?”

We provide a firm answer to this question: The evidence fails to confirm that lockdowns have a significant effect in reducing COVID-19 mortality. The effect is little to none.

The use of lockdowns is a unique feature of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns have not been used to such a large extent during any of the pandemics of the past century.

However, lockdowns during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic have had devastating effects.

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

These costs to society must be compared to the benefits of lockdowns, which our meta-analysis has shown are marginal at best. Such a standard benefit-cost calculation leads to a strong conclusion: lockdowns should be rejected out of hand as a pandemic policy instrument.

“Overall, we conclude that lockdowns are not an effective way of reducing mortality rates during a pandemic, at least not during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the paper concluded. Read Full Article >