Lockdown Harm

Feed the babies
Who don't have enough to eat
Shoe the children
With no shoes on their feet
House the people
Living in the streets
Oh, oh, there's a solution
--Steve Miller Band

No public health official in favor of lockdowns has an intelligent reply to this question: how much will lockdowns cost in terms of human life and suffering?

More folks are beginning to estimate this cost. John Ioannidis of Stanford has written a recent paper lists several possible causes of excess deaths from lockdown measures (Table 1). Note the lengthy time horizons associated with some of these CODs to materialize.

This article cites research by Scott Atlas and others estimating that lockdown deaths from cancer, heart disease, suicide, and other causes could easily add up to more life years lost than from CV19. Moreover, the associated recession could push more than 60 million people into extreme poverty worldwide (that number seems conservative.

A declaration about the hazards of lockdown written by several scientists is attracting worldwide support.

The axiom that people are coming to realize is this. Prosperity (which includes health) depends on production and voluntary trade. Anything that impedes this process makes heath worse, not better. 

Stated differently, lockdowns lead to less production and trade. Less production and trade lead to higher poverty. Higher poverty leads to lower health.