Martin Kulldorff and Jay Bhattacharya

Lockdown isn’t working

Getty images

Our approach to the Covid-19 pandemic has been a scientific folly. While some mortality is unavoidable during a pandemic, the failure to properly protect the elderly and other vulnerable has led to over 45,000 UK and 225,000 US deaths and counting. Added to that total is the extensive collateral damage on health from lockdowns, which is likely to be exacerbated in Britain by the latest lockdown. We have eroded public trust in the scientific community by ignoring basic principles of public health.

To address this, the Great Barrington Declaration has called for a sharp change in Covid-19 policy with focused protection as its central idea. It is based on three basic principles of public health ignored by lockdown proponents: (i) minimise long-term rather than short-term Covid-19 mortality; (ii) minimise morbidity and mortality from all diseases; not just Covid-19; and (iii) minimise disease and mortality in the entire population, including the working class and the poor.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in