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News

Why lockdowns are the wrong policy – Swedish expert Prof. Johan Giesecke, UnHerd

  • UK policy on lockdown and other European countries are not evidence-based
  • The correct policy is to protect the old and the frail only
  • This will eventually lead to herd immunity as a “by-product”
  • The initial UK response, before the “180 degree U-turn”, was better
  • The Imperial College paper was “not very good” and he has never seen an unpublished paper have so much policy impact
  • The paper was very much too pessimistic
  • Any such models are a dubious basis for public policy anyway
  • The flattening of the curve is due to the most vulnerable dying first as much as the lockdown
  • The results will eventually be similar for all countries
  • Covid-19 is a “mild disease” and similar to the flu, and it was the novelty of the disease that scared people.
  • The actual fatality rate of Covid-19 is the region of 0.1%
  • At least 50% of the population of both the UK and Sweden will be shown to have already had the disease when mass antibody testing becomes available

Summary from 21st Century Wire.

21st Century Wire
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News

End Lockdown for Young to Give Economy a Chance, Research Says – Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-06/end-lockdown-for-young-to-give-economy-a-chance-research-says

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News Opinion

There’s no direct evidence that the lockdowns are working – Dr John Lee, Spiked

The UK government has extended its lockdown for another three weeks. But could the shutdown of society be doing more harm than good? In fact, is there any evidence it is doing any good at all? Dr John A Lee, a recently retired professor of pathology and NHS consultant pathologist, has repeatedly called for a critical and dispassionate examination of the evidence in relation to Covid-19, raising questions about the government and its advisers’ interpretation of the data.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/04/17/theres-no-direct-evidence-that-the-lockdowns-are-working/

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News

2,500 extra non-Covid deaths in a week! Collateral damage from the lockdown? – InProportion2

InProportion2 analyses the latest figures from Office for National Statistics, week ending 3 April 2020.

http://inproportion2.talkigy.com/collateral_judgement.html

Source: Sir David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk, Cambridge University
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Opinion Videos

Hysterical reaction to Covid19 & public support of lockdown is scary & dangerous – Peter Hitchens

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News Opinion

Coronavirus Lockdown and What You Are Not Being Told – Off-Guardian

The knee jerk reaction, assuming any questioning of the lockdown demonstrates a cavalier, uncaring disregard is puerile. Grown adults shouldn’t simply believe everything they are told like mindless idiots. Critical thinking and asking questions is never “bad” under any circumstances whatsoever.

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News

What Share of the World Population Is Already on COVID-19 Lockdown? – Statista

https://www.statista.com/chart/21240/enforced-covid-19-lockdowns-by-people-affected-per-country/

Infographic: What Share of the World Population Is Already on COVID-19 Lockdown? | Statista You will find more infographics at Statista
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News Opinion

What are we to make of the latest figures on deaths, Covid-19 or otherwise? – Peter Hitchens, The Mail on Sunday

https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2020/04/an-attempt-to-gather-some-facts-on-the-present-stateof-the-covid-19-crisis-warning-no-conclusion.html

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News

The coronavirus lockdown is also harming the nation’s health – Dr. Max Pemberton, The Daily Mail

Colleagues around the country report their clinics have never felt emptier or their workloads lighter as hospitals have gone on a war footing.

Yes, of course it is a war we have to fight with every weapon at our disposal. But I read, with a growing sense of outrage, a leaked report this week claiming that over the Easter weekend just 19 patients were treated at the newly-created 4,000-bed Nightingale Hospital in East London.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8223733/Have-gone-far-fear-lockdown-harming-nations-health-writes-Dr-MAX-PEMBERTON.html

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News Opinion

I have herd immunity – The Spectator

“The supine capitulation to a de facto police state in a country long regarded as a cradle of liberty has been one of the most depressing spectacles I’ve ever witnessed. In a matter of days, busybodies are ratting out neighbours for going for a run twice; these people would be pigs in muck in the GDR. The police taping over of isolated park benches and harassment of sunbathers or sea swimmers without a soul within 100 feet have no basis in epidemiology. “

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/I-have-herd-immunity

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News

Where is the vigorous debate about our response to Covid? – Dr John Lee, The Spectator

“Barely a day goes by without a politician saying that they will be ‘led by the science’. But what we are seeing with Covid-19 is not ‘science’ in action.”

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/to-understand-covid-we-need-evidence-scepticism-and-vigorous-debate

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News

The lockdown is NOT a way of beating this virus – Dr. Malcolm Kendrick

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Publications

COVID-19 is having a profound effect on mental health and physical health – The Lancet

Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19
pandemic: a call for action for mental health science

PDF download of the paper available from The Lancet: https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanpsy/PIIS2215-0366(20)30168-1.pdf

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News

Has COVID-19 Testing Made the Problem Worse? – Off-Guardian

https://off-guardian.org/2020/04/15/has-covid-19-testing-made-the-problem-worse/

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News

‘We are living in an era of global madness’ – Heather Mac Donald

Heather Mac Donald, New York Times bestselling author and Thomas W Smith fellow at the Manhattan Institute, discusses the destructive consequences of shutting down society in response to Covid-19, and why the virus is likely to inflame the culture wars.

https://www.spiked-online.com/podcast-episode/we-are-living-in-an-era-of-global-madness/

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Publications

The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence – The Lancet

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30460-8/fulltext

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News Opinion

A Comparison of Lockdown UK With Non-Lockdown Sweden – Rob Slane

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News

Invasive ventilation of COVID-19 patients is often counterproductive

COVID-19: Beatmung – und dann?

https://www.doccheck.com/de/detail/articles/26271-covid-19-beatmung-und-dann

Leading lung specialists say invasive ventilation of Covid19 patients causes additional damage to the lungs.

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News Publications

UCL: closing schools does not help control COVID-19 epidemic

School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30095-X/fulltext

Summary from BBC News:

  • While school closures help during influenza outbreaks, the same may not apply to coronavirus
  • Data from the Sars outbreak (in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore) suggest that school closures did not contribute to the control of the epidemic
  • Recent modelling studies of Covid-19 predict that school closures alone would prevent only 2%-4% of deaths, many fewer than other social distancing interventions
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News Videos

Perspectives on the Pandemic | Dr. David L. Katz | Episode 3

  • 00:58-How to minimize the risk of COVID-19
  • 03:52-Comparing the responses to a global pandemic
  • 08:53-Who is most at risk
  • 13:44-Is our global response warranted?
  • 17:17-Comparing COVID-19 to the flu
  • 20:55-Is the risk really that high?
  • 23:53-What is the fatality rate versus other common risk factors?
  • 25:2900:58-How to minimize the risk of COVID-19
  • 03:52-Comparing the responses to a global pandemic
  • 08:53-Who is most at risk
  • 13:44-Is our global response warranted?
  • 17:17-Comparing COVID-19 to the flu
  • 20:55-Is the risk really that high?
  • 23:53-What is the fatality rate versus other common risk factors? 25:29-The risk of labeling COVID-19 as a ?pandemic?
  • 26:14-Are the COVID-19 tests reliable?
  • 28:58-Should we be concerned about herd immunity?
  • 30:16-On the chances of getting a vaccine
  • 31:47-The return of ?measles parties??
  • 34:30-Breaking down the pros and cons of herd immunity
  • 37:25-Is lockdown making the problem worse?
  • 40:01-How to really hashtag Flatten the Curve
  • 45:45-Can we really trace the exposure for every person?
  • 48:06-Is authoritarianism growing in the name of public health? 50:37-Who can we trust when this pandemic is over?
  • 54:54-Industries? roles in the pandemic