Locking Down American Liberty – Phillip W. Magness

Until the onset of Covid-19, most public health experts explicitly rejected large-scale quarantines as a viable policy response to a respiratory pandemic.

The judgment against lockdowns rested on the general failure of such measures in past pandemics.

A 2006 study by the World Health Organization concluded lockdowns were “not demonstrably effective in urban areas” during the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918 .

US Covid task force issued its “ 15 days to slow the spread” guidelines on March 16 , the day of the Imperial College model’s public release.

This guidance and an accompanying declaration of a national coronavirus emergency effectively greenlit the governors of every state to impose lockdowns.

Peter Bergen : Multiple clear warning signs pointed to the folly of the course that public health charted.

Sweden stands apart during Covid-19 for bucking the lockdown measures adopted in almost all other developed economies.

Swedish health authorities adopted a policy of voluntary general health and sanitation guidance while also keeping most schools and businesses open for the duration of the pandemic.

As of August 31, 2020, Sweden had recorded just a fraction of these totals at just 5,800 Covid deaths.