“You terrible rebukes killed people. You should be forever ashamed. “
which was A friend’s reaction on Facebook A new health study from the University of Virginia shows that suicide attempts by overdose among children have increased sharply during the pandemic. And, of course, he is right.
It was about three years ago that we were told we had to shut things down “for two weeks to slow the spread.”
The initial argument seemed plausible — a little shutter for the slow transmission of the Chinese coronavirus now known as Covid-19 just so hospitals and other health-care facilities could handle the surge.
Would a two-week lockdown have helped? We don’t know because we got something close to two years.
Or more: Although the evidence that mandatory masking works has been somewhere between tepid and nonexistent, we’ve only seen experts this year finally call for an end to mask requirements in health-care facilities, among other measures. .
Meanwhile, studies continue to emerge showing all sorts of harm from these so-called “non-pharmacological interventions” during Covid.
There is a loss of up to “Shocking” increase in LGBTQ intimate partner violence A Rutgers study found that an increase in sexual assaults on teenage girls, a large decline in cancer screening, a “Unprecedented” decline in youth mental health, a dramatic loss in children’s schooling, which remedial efforts have failed to reverse. Even the bar exam scores suffered.
Although these interventions did little to reduce Covid death rates – Sweden, which avoided a lockdown, did. Better than the nations that followed them – There is ample evidence that heart attacks, obesity, mental-health problems, drug overdoses and the like cause many deaths.
People who were at very low risk from Covid because of their age died at far-above-normal rates from the disruption of normal life, the severance of normal social-support networks and, of course, these other causes. Endless fear of the government and the media spread.
And children were hurt the most, suffering developmental delays and other harms.
For a 6-year-old, two years of masking and lockdown is almost half a lifetime, and you can’t get those years back.
Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admits that the lockdown has increased outbreaks of strep, flu and respiratory-syncytial-virus.
Many of the lockout measures were absurd or downright discriminatory.
As leftist blogger Nate Silver observes, “It’s kind of crazy (and tells you a lot about who was writing the bans) that in some jurisdictions churches were subject to more bans than museums! Anyway. Not even trying to follow the principles of epidemiology.”
We saw outdoor skate parks filled with sand, sea kayakers cited for not wearing masks while paddling alone on the ocean and, as Silver noted in a retweeted post, a Santa Clara church and its congregation showed “unprecedented vigilance.” “Target of action” made on negligence. of the lockdown rules.
It was a golden age for scandals, engagements and petty tyrants, and they made the most of it.
The result was a massive loss of confidence in the integrity and competence of public authorities, scientists and the media at all levels, a loss of confidence that was 100% justified.
I myself wasn’t suspicious enough, Which is rare. I knew the history of the 1918 flu, where there were brief mask regulations and business closures, and foolishly assumed that the coronavirus regulations would be similar. Short term and relatively minor.
Boy, was I wrong. In my defense, we live in a different – and in many respects worse – America than the America of 1918.
Our authorities are more capricious and less competent (no small feat, since they were no great hillbillies then, really), our press more one-sided and, sadly, less able to resist the abuse of our public power. is ready
However in the event of some new epidemic, I expect very little cooperation. People could trust too much before, but now they know better.
The reprobates were happy. America once mocked them, mocking characters like Gladys Kravitz, the neighbor of “Bewitched,” as they peered through the curtains next door.
During the pandemic, however, we empowered them. They mind other people’s business while pretending to serve public interest.
but Those terrible curses killed peopleBy enabling—and demanding and continuing to demand—interventionist government policies that demonstrably don’t work and actually make things worse.
Will they be shamed forever? no But they should be.
Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a professor of law at the University of Tennessee and founder of the InstaPundit.com blog.
