The Cure Is Worse Than The Disease
"Lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer.”
“We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus.” “The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganize, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we’d rather not do it.”
That is a quote from WHO envoy Dr. David Nabarro. In a video interview in the British magazine the Spectator, he stated lockdowns should only be treated as a last resort. “Lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never, ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer,” he said.
This sounds similar to the sentiments of several infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists who are calling for an end to lockdowns. They have created a petition called the Great Barrington Declaration.
Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.
Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.
The petition goes on to call for a compassionate approach they title “Focused Protection.” These experts claim their approach will protect the vulnerable and allow those at minimal risk of death to “live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection.”
Lockdown fatigue has set in. Fewer people want to continue down the road of endless shutdowns. Since April, when Sweden’s outbreak crested, it's been obvious that lockdowns weren’t necessary to control the coronavirus outbreak. They seem to have gotten it right. It’s also clear that the millions of unemployment claims we’ve seen over the past several months here in the USA prove that lockdowns are an elaborate form of economic suicide. Most of us knew that fact before a single lockdown anywhere in the world was ordered. Only government bureaucrats, who still have hefty salaries, paid vacation time, lifetime pensions, and healthcare, could believe that the economy can simply be turned off and on with no consequences.
I’m starting to hear grumblings from my colleagues on Broadway about being forced out of work for 15 straight months. They see this lockdown fiasco the way I do. Or maybe they always knew it, but are finally speaking up:
Many people cannot figure out what's going on. I feel it’s mission creep. We started with an understandable short-term, maybe a month or two, of lockdown. Over the past seven months, the goal morphed into a much broader crusade to fortify every part of society against any level of this new disease.
Elimination of COVID-19 may not be possible. It may never happen. A recent paper, published in Nature, suggests that even in Hong Kong, where compliance with mask-wearing has been over 98% since February, they still can't stop COVID-19. If they can't prevent this disease with the tactic many in the USA think is the cure, it may not be possible anywhere.
Fear and distrust dominate when the impulse of catastrophism overrides our commitment to negotiate the risks we face calmly. We should be trusting local communities to devise public health measures and strategies that work for them, not a nebulous national plan. Covid-19 represents a severe threat, but it is one that society is more than capable of dealing without shutting down indefinitely.
Is the cure worse than the disease? To determine this, we will have to analyze if particular policies are taking more lives than they were saving. We will also have to consider what value we will assign to those lost or damaged lives against the long-term economic consequences.
I live in what the media call the "epicenter" of COVID-19 in the USA—New York City. I saw firsthand the severity of this disease. I know several people who have contracted COVID-19 and know others who have died. The problem I see now is that we have inflicted long-lasting pain and suffering on ourselves because of our response to the pandemic. Children are falling behind academically with potential lifelong implications. Businesses are being forced into bankruptcy. People are losing their homes with permanent financial impact. Mental health services are facing massive budget cuts precisely when they need more support. Entire industries are shuttered for over a year.
We inflicted tremendous economic and societal pain on ourselves to 'flatten the curve.' Are our outcomes better than every other society? Sweden refused to shut down their economy. Life is returning to normal there. The public is growing weary of the hysteria and lack of transparency from our elected leaders. People were willing to make sacrifices to make a difference, but false prediction after false prediction resulted in a village of citizens less attentive to the cries of "wolf!"
Our local leaders told us there was an emergency for several months. We needed to provide time to prepare for future cases. Seven months later, the only real state of emergency we are facing is the dying faith we have in our leaders and their projections.
Now that we face looming economic sanctions, tax increases, and forced closures, many business owners might choose a strategy of refusing to comply with these seemingly arbitrarily selected designations of "essential" versus "non-essential." With the many mandated closures over the past few months, the result has been economic ruin. This provides a powerful incentive to roll the dice and face a potential fine rather than lose a lifetime of work. Others may take to the courts in absurdly expensive and prolonged legal proceedings to force change—with potentially billions in economic damages.
The biggest question is: when does this end? What is our endpoint? Is it a COVID-19 vaccine? Will it be when there are no new cases? Is society to shut down every time there is an increase in new cases? What if the hospitals aren't overwhelmed? What if the death rate stays stable? When do we stop wearing masks? Is social distancing here to stay? Is the cure worse than this disease?
Thought-Provoking Articles:
Joe Biden Has 91 Percent Chance of Winning Electoral College, Latest Economist Forecast Predicts – They said something similar in 2016 about Hillary, didn’t they?
“London could be plunged into tier two lockdown THIS WEEK” – Unelected mayor Sadiq Khan threatens to move London into the “Tier Two” category
The business of Football: Dak Prescott's Injury Won't Significantly Hurt His Career Earnings – Much has been made of Dak Prescott's contract situation, before and after his injury in Week 5, but he will likely end up in the same position next February he'd be in anyway.
“Bizarre ‘Socially Distanced Prom’ Shows Teens Dancing Back to Back” – Truly remarkable footage of teens at a prom dancing back-to-back, arms interlocked
FBI: Whitmer plotters also discussed kidnapping Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam – TAKE CUOMO INSTEAD!
“Cambodian farmers deploy scarecrows to ward off virus” – Sounds silly, but no less effective than lockdowns
Something Funny (at least to me):
Clayton Craddock is an independent thinker, father of two beautiful children in New York City. He is the drummer of the hit broadway musical Ain't Too Proud. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University's School of Business and is a 28 year veteran of the fast-paced New York City music scene. He has played drums in several hit broadway and off-broadway musicals, including "Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, and Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill. Also, Clayton has worked on: Footloose, Motown, The Color Purple, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Evita, Cats, and Avenue Q.
Well written...I stated the first month that the cure was worse than the disease. We have an economic pandemic that our grandchildren will not be able to recover from. I am all about taking precautions and being safe but certain industries are also being targeted (like the arts, sports, travel, restaurants) and they have very little chance of survival if we continue like we have. I have done a lot of research on the Wisconsin numbers and 2/3-3/4 of all in ICU are NON-COVID patients. In addition to the economic toll, the toll on non-COVID related health is also great with higher rates of suicide, alcohol use, heart attacks and other illnesses that have advanced because services have been denied or postponed due to the fear of COVID. Just so sad to see the far reaching affects of this disease.