The long term cost of lock downs

[Anonymous]

Lockdowns have had no statistically observable effect on the virus. On the other hand, they destroyed industries, schools, churches, liberties and lives, demoralizing the population and robbing people of essential rights.



Why Is Everyone in Texas Not Dying?

https://www.aier.org/article/why-is-everyone-in-texas-not-dying/">https://www.aier.org/article/why-is-eve ... not-dying/">https://www.aier.org/article/why-is-everyone-in-texas-not-dying/

[Anonymous]

Shocking report: 55% of Brits have antibodies, despite 12 months of restrictions



A year later



Originally, we were told that governments can assume unprecedented control over our lives, businesses, and even our own faces for the goal of not overrunning hospitals. A year later, as we come increasingly close to herd immunity, not only are hospitals in no danger of being overrun, but it turns out that people have likely contracted the virus at a rate that would have occurred without any of these restrictions – and their calamitous damage to society. Twelve months later, it's all pain and no gain.



We've always known that the number of confirmed COVID cases in a given region is only a fraction of the likely infection rate. Now, according to Great Britain's Office for National Statistics (ONS), 54.7% of people in England in a random sample of 30,000 have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, which includes people who have had been infected or have been vaccinated. Those are the sort of numbers we were promised would happen only if we just "let the virus rip" without any non-pharmaceutical interventions, aka lockdowns and mask-wearing. But it turns out that the virus was always gonna virus, regardless of what hocus-pocus was thrown in front of it.



This data demonstrates that the entire 12-month premise of lockdowns and masks to slow the spread was a lie (after the original lie of flatten the curve), and even more so, any continuation of these policies after most people have immunity is built upon a dastardly lie. Even if the new goal has changed illogically from decreasing the burden on the hospitals to slowing the growth of cases, it's quite evident that these measures don't work. We have now achieved well over 50% immunity between infection and vaccines in most Western countries, built on 12 months of masochist public policy designed to preclude that immunity.

https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz-shocking-report-55-of-brits-have-antibodies-despite-12-months-of-restrictions?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210406Trending-BritishStudy&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News">https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz ... ing%20News">https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz-shocking-report-55-of-brits-have-antibodies-despite-12-months-of-restrictions?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210406Trending-BritishStudy&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News

[Anonymous]

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found an alarming jump in the number of drug overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from the CDC shows that drug overdose deaths in the U.S. increased by nearly 29% during the pandemic.



The largest increases happened in April and May 2020, when government-mandated lockdowns were the strictest.

[Anonymous]

https://scontent.fyxd1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/172631324_4308179099194583_8277080073462218988_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=OEbCvikWgzYAX9ytMen&_nc_ht=scontent.fyxd1-1.fna&oh=f01dcafe7bbc2e67fdef384139255a78&oe=609E6621">

[Anonymous]

Ontario is cancelling so called elective surgeries.

[Anonymous]

Florida Gov. DeSantis Says Lockdowns Were a 'Huge Mistake'



Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statewide stay-at-home order on April 1 last year locking down the Sunshine State for 30 days amid a global panic about the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus outbreak. Sitting in his office exactly a year later, he told The Epoch Times that the lockdowns were a "huge mistake," including in his own state.



The governor nonetheless now regrets issuing the order at all and is convinced that states that have carried on with lockdowns are perpetuating a destructive blunder.



The governor fully reopened Florida on Sept. 25 last year. When cases began to rise as part of the winter surge he did not reimpose any restrictions. Lockdown proponents forecast doom and gloom. DeSantis stood his ground.





Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives a thumbs up as he leaves a press conference where he spoke about the cruise industry at Port Miami on April 08, 2021 in Miami, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The governor's persistence wasn't a leap of faith. Less than two weeks after Florida's full reopening in late September, scientists from Stanford, Harvard, and Oxford went public with the Great Barrington Declaration, which disavowed lockdowns as a destructive and futile mitigation measure. The declaration, which has since been signed by 13,985 medical and public health scientists, calls on public officials to adopt the focused protection approach—the exact strategy employed by DeSantis.



Despite dire predictions about the pandemic in Florida, DeSantis has been vindicated. On April 1, 2021, Florida ranked 27th among all states in deaths per capita from the CCP virus, commonly known as the coronavirus.



The ranking's significance is amplified because the Sunshine State's population is the sixth oldest in the United States by median age. California—the lockdown state often compared to Florida due to its lower per-capita death rate—is the sixth youngest. The risk of dying from the CCP virus is highest for people over 55, with the group accounting for 93 percent of the deaths nationwide.



While Florida is doing either better or relatively the same as the strict lockdown states in terms of CCP virus mortalities, the state's economy is booming compared to the crippled economies in California and New York. Though less quantifiable, the human suffering from the lockdown-related rise in suicides, mental health issues, postponed medical treatments, and opioid deaths is undeniably immense.



"It's been a huge, huge mistake in terms of policy," DeSantis said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/desantis-lockdowns-were-a-huge-mistake_3777926.html?&utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-04-16-1&mktids=d8630dd65bdcb7e33ee18e42e2e146ec&est=blv%2FJnPRvGnrZlCq53u7rE5BKCMo7T%2F3etZmH7T3%2BU5Hoom4GPHequZ%2FUNAINHRHew%3D%3D">https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_break ... RHew%3D%3D">https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/desantis-lockdowns-were-a-huge-mistake_3777926.html?&utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-04-16-1&mktids=d8630dd65bdcb7e33ee18e42e2e146ec&est=blv%2FJnPRvGnrZlCq53u7rE5BKCMo7T%2F3etZmH7T3%2BU5Hoom4GPHequZ%2FUNAINHRHew%3D%3D

[Anonymous]

The parent company of GYMVMT fitness centres has filed for bankruptcy..



Some non-urgent surgeries and ambulatory appointments will be postponed in Calgary, Edmonton and the North zone starting Tuesday to create more capacity for COVID-19 hospitalizations.

[Anonymous]

New Canadian study breaks down 'ineffectiveness' and harms of lockdowns

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/furey-new-canadian-study-breaks-down-ineffectiveness-and-harms-of-lockdowns?fbclid=IwAR0ok6NsQ2YU0AOlndJSfkxb-oPXuhqmBb3UkFUFlv3KV8oi765i9eCIlMQ">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnis ... 65i9eCIlMQ">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/furey-new-canadian-study-breaks-down-ineffectiveness-and-harms-of-lockdowns?fbclid=IwAR0ok6NsQ2YU0AOlndJSfkxb-oPXuhqmBb3UkFUFlv3KV8oi765i9eCIlMQ



Lockdowns are accomplishing little benefit, but colossal damage. That's the conclusion of a research paper by Simon Fraser University Economics Professor Douglas W. Allen, who concludes "it is possible that lockdown will go down as one of the greatest peacetime policy failures in Canada's history."



Professor Allen's paper is an examination of over 80 research papers from around the world that studied lockdowns. He found that many of them employed false assumptions, greatly overestimated the benefits of lockdowns and underestimated their harms.



Perhaps the greatest error in the reports and modelling, according to Allen, is the assumption that places without lockdowns would involve people taking zero precautions.



"Lockdown jurisdictions were not able to prevent non-compliance, and non-lockdown jurisdictions benefited from voluntary changes in behavior that mimicked lockdowns," Allen observes.



Any Canadian who has snowbird friends reporting back from the front lines in Florida — the first U.S. state to end its lockdown and mask mandate — knows that there are still many people choosing to follow precautions, it's just that those who don't are not fined or arrested like they are in many parts of Canada.



Allen breaks down one report that shows "the variation in stay-at-home orders across the U.S. and found that lockdowns had only modest effects on Covid-19 transmission rates."



Among the 20 studies that did acknowledge the difference between mandatory and voluntary measures, "all of them find that mandated lockdowns have only marginal effects and that voluntary changes in behavior explain large parts of the changes in cases, transmissions, and deaths."



So not only are the benefits of lockdowns negligible at best, but their harms are overwhelming. Not that Canadian officials bothered to check.



"Over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been no public evidence that either the federal or provincial governments of Canada have considered both the benefit and cost sides of their policy decisions," the report notes. "To my knowledge, no government has provided any formal cost/benefit analysis of their actions."



(Ontario medical officers confirmed to me when I asked them during a press conference earlier this year that the province has not undertaken a formal cost/benefit analysis.)



While there have been various standalone reports on lockdown harms such as job losses and mental health challenges, comprehensive studies are hard to come by.



"Many of the costs will not be known for years as they work out in reduced graduation rates, reduced future earnings, and reduced long run health status," notes Allen.



Allen's own cost/benefit analysis uses an elaborate calculation to determine how many years of lost life will have been caused by the various harms of lockdowns versus how many years of lost life were saved by lockdowns.



"The benefit of lockdown, therefore, was the avoidance of this extra 22,333 years of lost life. However, the cost of lockdown... was 6,300,000 years of lost life."



Based on this calculation, the big picture long-term societal harms of lockdowns are 282 times worse than their benefits. It's a staggering finding.



While Canadians won't be used to hearing about lockdowns discussed in this regard, Allen is far from the first to use this sort of calculation.



Last spring, the New Zealand Productivity Commission — a Crown agency similar to Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer — did a study using a metric known as Quality Adjusted Life Years to weigh the advantages of extending one of their lockdowns, and found the long-term harms were almost 100 times greater than the benefits.



The numbers will vary study by study, the conclusions will no doubt be debated — but what's important is that more people start taking the topic of lockdown harms seriously. Kudos to Professor Douglas W. Allen for his great efforts in advancing the conversation.

[Anonymous]

Alberta is reducing surgeries by as much as 30 per cent in its most populous zones.

[Anonymous]

A British report says lockdowns hurt child speech and language skills.

[Anonymous]

This is insane.



Murder suspect called victim he allegedly stabbed to death an 'anti-masker' just after incident, police say

https://www.theblaze.com/news/murder-suspect-victim-anti-masker?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210430Trending-ProfessorCopHero&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News">https://www.theblaze.com/news/murder-su ... ing%20News">https://www.theblaze.com/news/murder-suspect-victim-anti-masker?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210430Trending-ProfessorCopHero&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News



Police said a murder suspect called the victim he allegedly stabbed to death an "anti-masker" soon after last weekend's incident outside a Bothell, Washington, apartment building, the Seattle Times reported.



What are the details?

Charging documents say John Huynh and two friends exited the Villas at Beardslee apartments just before 7:30 p.m. Sunday and headed to a car parked nearby where Huynh's wife was waiting, the paper said.



With that a man — a stranger and fellow resident of the apartment building — flashed his middle finger, and Huynh stopped to ask him if he had flipped him off or waved to him, the Times said, citing charging papers.



The pair faced each other about four or five feet apart when the man lunged forward, stabbed Huynh in the chest, and then ran back into the building, the paper said, citing the charges.



A friend of Huynh ran over and put pressure on the wound, and witnesses called 911 and got the attention of a Bothell police officer who was across the street, the Times said, citing the charging papers.

Soon a woman approached a police officer and said her son had been involved and needed medical attention for a cut on his hand, after which she gave the officer a key to her third-floor unit, and police entered the apartment and arrested 25-year-old Ian Williams in a bedroom, the paper said, citing the charges.



'Anti-masker'

Williams' mother told police her son ran into their apartment yelling for her and "told her that an anti-masker had attacked him," a Bothell detective wrote in charging papers, the Times said, adding that "she told him to show her where he was hurt, and he initially said he was not hurt, but he thought he hurt the other guy."



Police later obtained a warrant to search the apartment and found a folding knife with blood on the blade in the bathroom, the paper said, citing the charges, adding that Williams' mother told police her son normally carries a knife for protection and to open boxes.



The detective wrote in the charging documents that in reviewing video of the incident, Huynh and his friends exited the apartment building lobby doors three minutes after Williams, and as Huynh walked by Williams, something drew his attention, and the pair faced each other, the Times said.



"Their arms are not raised and they do not make physical contact," the detective added, according to the paper. "Suddenly, Ian Williams makes a thrusting motion toward Huynh, and Huynh stumbles backward."



When Williams ran back inside the lobby, video showed him still holding a knife in his right hand, the Times reported, citing the charges.



Huynh — whose stab wound was to his heart — died at the scene, the paper said. He was 29 and a newlywed. The paper, citing an online wedding website, said Huynh and his wife were married in Renton in November. A GoFundMe campaign has raised over $72,000 as of Friday morning to provide financial support to Huynh's wife and parents, the Times said.



What happened to the suspect?

Williams — who hadn't had previous disputes with Huynh — was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon and jailed in lieu of $2 million bail, the paper said, citing court and jail records. Prosecutors told the Times that Williams — who does not appear to have any criminal history — is scheduled for a May 12 arraignment.



Williams also is a college senior studying computer science, KIRO-TV reported.



"I know there have been a lot of questions regarding motive, and this investigation is just in its beginning process," Bothell police Capt. Bryan Keller told the station.

[Frood]

I didn't watch the whole video..



But, the part about the solution to the pandemic, isolation, inactivity are terrible recommendations.

Maybe to the cage loving sorts...

[Anonymous]

This is insane.



Murder suspect called victim he allegedly stabbed to death an 'anti-masker' just after incident, police say

https://www.theblaze.com/news/murder-suspect-victim-anti-masker?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210430Trending-ProfessorCopHero&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News">https://www.theblaze.com/news/murder-su ... ing%20News">https://www.theblaze.com/news/murder-suspect-victim-anti-masker?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210430Trending-ProfessorCopHero&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News



Police said a murder suspect called the victim he allegedly stabbed to death an "anti-masker" soon after last weekend's incident outside a Bothell, Washington, apartment building, the Seattle Times reported.



What are the details?

Charging documents say John Huynh and two friends exited the Villas at Beardslee apartments just before 7:30 p.m. Sunday and headed to a car parked nearby where Huynh's wife was waiting, the paper said.



With that a man — a stranger and fellow resident of the apartment building — flashed his middle finger, and Huynh stopped to ask him if he had flipped him off or waved to him, the Times said, citing charging papers.



The pair faced each other about four or five feet apart when the man lunged forward, stabbed Huynh in the chest, and then ran back into the building, the paper said, citing the charges.



A friend of Huynh ran over and put pressure on the wound, and witnesses called 911 and got the attention of a Bothell police officer who was across the street, the Times said, citing the charging papers.

Soon a woman approached a police officer and said her son had been involved and needed medical attention for a cut on his hand, after which she gave the officer a key to her third-floor unit, and police entered the apartment and arrested 25-year-old Ian Williams in a bedroom, the paper said, citing the charges.



'Anti-masker'

Williams' mother told police her son ran into their apartment yelling for her and "told her that an anti-masker had attacked him," a Bothell detective wrote in charging papers, the Times said, adding that "she told him to show her where he was hurt, and he initially said he was not hurt, but he thought he hurt the other guy."



Police later obtained a warrant to search the apartment and found a folding knife with blood on the blade in the bathroom, the paper said, citing the charges, adding that Williams' mother told police her son normally carries a knife for protection and to open boxes.



The detective wrote in the charging documents that in reviewing video of the incident, Huynh and his friends exited the apartment building lobby doors three minutes after Williams, and as Huynh walked by Williams, something drew his attention, and the pair faced each other, the Times said.



"Their arms are not raised and they do not make physical contact," the detective added, according to the paper. "Suddenly, Ian Williams makes a thrusting motion toward Huynh, and Huynh stumbles backward."



When Williams ran back inside the lobby, video showed him still holding a knife in his right hand, the Times reported, citing the charges.



Huynh — whose stab wound was to his heart — died at the scene, the paper said. He was 29 and a newlywed. The paper, citing an online wedding website, said Huynh and his wife were married in Renton in November. A GoFundMe campaign has raised over $72,000 as of Friday morning to provide financial support to Huynh's wife and parents, the Times said.



What happened to the suspect?

Williams — who hadn't had previous disputes with Huynh — was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon and jailed in lieu of $2 million bail, the paper said, citing court and jail records. Prosecutors told the Times that Williams — who does not appear to have any criminal history — is scheduled for a May 12 arraignment.



Williams also is a college senior studying computer science, KIRO-TV reported.



"I know there have been a lot of questions regarding motive, and this investigation is just in its beginning process," Bothell police Capt. Bryan Keller told the station.

 

[Anonymous]

Restaurants Ready to Hire, but Government Payments Keep Workers Home



As more and more states start easing pandemic restrictions, restaurants large and small are grappling with a widespread problem: hiring employees.



Owners and managers from New York, California, Washington, and Chicago told The Epoch Times hiring woes have become a nightmare amid a litany of other challenges like indoor occupancy rules. They say the federal unemployment bonuses handed out during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic incentivized people to stay home instead of working.



Now, restaurants are starting the long, hard, and costly climb back to profitability. The lockdowns imposed across the country a year ago have since put out of business over 110,000 eateries, some of them permanently.



It's become so dire that one McDonald's location in Florida started paying $50 to anyone who would show up for a job interview. Other franchises like Taco Bell, which needs at least 5,000 new employees, are holding hiring events in parking lots.



Hiring difficulties have long existed in the service industry, even before the pandemic. But Hudson Riehle, the senior vice president for research at the National Restaurant Association said it's reaching unprecedented levels.



"When it comes to recruiting workforce, in January, 7 percent of restaurant operators rated recruitment and retention of workforce as their top challenge; by April that number had risen to 57 percent," Riehle told The Epoch Times.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/restaurants-ready-to-hire-but-government-payments-keep-workers-home_3796054.html?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-05-05&mktids=f6ece512e0ef5607dfbf464097ef2c3e&est=a1NB%2FI9%2FiwZ4Ifz41wbXVfa9LQfLzu0DeWmAhgxnhUbCS07jFyiNHHQGMTBimgXtHg%3D%3D">https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morni ... XtHg%3D%3D">https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/restaurants-ready-to-hire-but-government-payments-keep-workers-home_3796054.html?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-05-05&mktids=f6ece512e0ef5607dfbf464097ef2c3e&est=a1NB%2FI9%2FiwZ4Ifz41wbXVfa9LQfLzu0DeWmAhgxnhUbCS07jFyiNHHQGMTBimgXtHg%3D%3D

[Anonymous]

Restaurants Ready to Hire, but Government Payments Keep Workers Home



As more and more states start easing pandemic restrictions, restaurants large and small are grappling with a widespread problem: hiring employees.



Owners and managers from New York, California, Washington, and Chicago told The Epoch Times hiring woes have become a nightmare amid a litany of other challenges like indoor occupancy rules. They say the federal unemployment bonuses handed out during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic incentivized people to stay home instead of working.



Now, restaurants are starting the long, hard, and costly climb back to profitability. The lockdowns imposed across the country a year ago have since put out of business over 110,000 eateries, some of them permanently.



It's become so dire that one McDonald's location in Florida started paying $50 to anyone who would show up for a job interview. Other franchises like Taco Bell, which needs at least 5,000 new employees, are holding hiring events in parking lots.



Hiring difficulties have long existed in the service industry, even before the pandemic. But Hudson Riehle, the senior vice president for research at the National Restaurant Association said it's reaching unprecedented levels.



"When it comes to recruiting workforce, in January, 7 percent of restaurant operators rated recruitment and retention of workforce as their top challenge; by April that number had risen to 57 percent," Riehle told The Epoch Times.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/restaurants-ready-to-hire-but-government-payments-keep-workers-home_3796054.html?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-05-05&mktids=f6ece512e0ef5607dfbf464097ef2c3e&est=a1NB%2FI9%2FiwZ4Ifz41wbXVfa9LQfLzu0DeWmAhgxnhUbCS07jFyiNHHQGMTBimgXtHg%3D%3D">https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morni ... XtHg%3D%3D">https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/restaurants-ready-to-hire-but-government-payments-keep-workers-home_3796054.html?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-05-05&mktids=f6ece512e0ef5607dfbf464097ef2c3e&est=a1NB%2FI9%2FiwZ4Ifz41wbXVfa9LQfLzu0DeWmAhgxnhUbCS07jFyiNHHQGMTBimgXtHg%3D%3D

I want a decent social safety net. But, paying people not to work and as a result shut down businesses is not a way to provide long term security for anybody.