Technocrats who pushed policies like masks, social distancing and lockdowns in the first place had no evidence that they would work. Now the data is coming in that they are largely worthless against stopping the China virus or any other virus and, in fact, might be increasing the spread.

Professor Steven Riley, professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial College London, makes the claim, stating that, despite the draconian lock down in the UK instituted on 4th. January, China virus cases actually increased between the 6th to the 15th January. If the lockdown was working, he said, there should have been a decline in that time. Current research "certainly doesn’t support the conclusion that lockdown is working.”

A peer reviewed study by Stanford University researchers has also found that mandatory lockdowns do not provide more benefits to stopping the spread of the virus than voluntary measures such as social distancing do. There has been no significant beneficial effect of draconian measures proved in any country.

Put in a lockdown, take it off, put it back on again - it's like a merry-go-round.

Academics from Duke, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins in the US have warned that there could be around a million excess deaths over the next two decades AS A RESULT OF LOCKDOWNS.

Ttbn,

Not sure what planet you're on - I didn't realise that emails could travel inter-planetarily - but perhaps you could compare, say, any state in Australia, with the US when it comes to the prevention of deaths from this virus: Australia has lock-downs, the US really doesn't.

Australia hasn't had a death from the virus for months, while the Yanks have had around 65,000 deaths in this month alone - and very likely, another 120,000 by the end of February, before the vaccination program starts to have any effect on death numbers.

I don't quite understand this weird, rat-bag, distortion of figures, and crack-pot conspiracy theories on the part of reactionaries since the election. Any old lie seems to do. Do you really think we're all mugs out here ? That we'll believe any crap you want to dish out in the hope that there is still someone, anyone, out there, who is dumb enough to believe you ?

Dumb enough, yes, I know at least one bloke: you might be right about that at least - what's the bet that someone comes up with a mention of Venezuela :(

Joe

So, what does work or is better than lock-downs ?

Joe, I think you are dismissing the fact that the "unintended deaths" are irrelevant to the virus and you are nullifying something rather serious.

What is an unintended death? Any that are caused by the lockdowns, restrictions and disruption. Don't even need to catch the Covid, all you need to be is a little unlucky. If you have been receiving cancer care during this time, then about 40% of us have NOT received appropriate care or management. Ask an oncologist if you are curious, they began speaking out early last year, and have continued to repeat these warnings, though they are mostly ignored.

Did you know that 80% of the allogeneic bone marrow transplant patients will require overseas donors? That's not to mention those poor souls who have had the entire diagnosis process delayed, robbing them of their window for treatment and/or hope. Bone marrow biopsy is elective surgery, unless extremely urgent, so it's not just the breast augmentation surgery that's not being done in a timely fashion.

That's just one small section of a speciality inside the enormous world of cancers. But multiply repeatedly and the big picture gets clearer, and rather frightening. Perhaps pray that you don't find a lump tomorrow, hand washing, masks and lockdowns aren't effective at killing any cancer that I am aware of, but I freely admit that my education is limited to the world of Haematology, and a small stream within that epic monster, so I could be wrong.

How about the 15% increase in alcohol consumption over lockdown? Not sure it's a harmless legal product, liver cancer is a leading cause of death here....

Foul-Mouth,

Why don't you explain to us how China has been so successful in suppressing the spread of the coronavirus?

They're only had a total of around 88,000 infections.

individual,

If you are asking me, I don't know. Vaccination, eventually, I suppose - maybe. But, in the meantime, doing the same thing when it doesn't work, but just ruins the economy and causes anger, depression and hopelessness, is not much use. Nor is ignoring the fact that this sort of thing has, historically, petered out in time, sometimes without vaccination and interference by politicians and 'experts' who don't know what they are doing. The 'experts' have staggered out of 2020 into 2021 still clueless. This virus has been a case of que sera, sera since it started, and it looks like staying that way in the immediate future. People my age are going to die soon, anyway, and the young, productive ones will continue to shrug the virus off and get on with their lives if they are allowed to by the 'experts'.