Big Media ignore Johns Hopkins study finding lockdowns ineffective

After shaming states with minimal restrictions, raising alarm about ‘superspreaders’

ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, Reuters, USA Today, Axios, Politico and other major media outlets ignored a Johns Hopkins University study finding COVID lockdowns have been ineffective.

The meta-analysis, which began by examining more than 18,000 studies, found that during the first COVID wave in the spring of 2020, lockdowns in the U.S. and Europe reduced COVID mortality by 0.2%.

“While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted,” the researchers wrote. “In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”

During the pandemic, however, establishment media regularly shamed Republican-led states with minimal restrictions and raised alarm about events such as sold-out Southeastern Conference football games they called “superspreaders,” as Fox News noted.

The meta-analysis, titled “A Literature Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Lockdowns on COVID-19 Mortality,” began by identifying 18,590 studies that potentially could support the belief that lockdowns reduce COVID-19 mortality.

“After three levels of screening, 34 studies ultimately qualified. Of those 34 eligible studies, 24 qualified for inclusion in the meta-analysis,” the researchers wrote.

They then divided the studies into three groups, lockdown stringency index studies, shelter-in-place-order studies and specific non-pharmaceutical intervention studies.

They defined “lockdowns” as “the imposition of at least one compulsory, non-pharmaceutical intervention,” meaning government policies restricting people’s regular activities, such as limiting movement, closing schools and businesses, and banning international travel.

They found lockdowns in Europe and the United States reduced COVID mortality by only 0.2% on average and shelter-in-place orders by an average of 2.9%. There was no “broad-based evidence” showing non-pharmaceutical interventions had any noticeable effect on COVID mortality.

Blind to collateral harms
The conclusions by the Johns Hopkins researchers are consistent with other studies of hard data from around the world showing the lockdowns and other severe mitigation measures didn’t stop the typical waxing and waning of a respiratory virus pandemic.

And the unintended consequences have been documented by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As WND reported in December, the CDC warned that measles has become a growing global threat because of disruptions to childhood vaccinations caused by the lockdowns.

The WHO, in its latest malaria report, said in December that amid “disruptions” to health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, malaria cases and deaths rose significantly in 2020 compared to the previous year.

Source:  www.wnd.com/2022/02/big-media-ignore-johns-hopkins-study-finding-lockdowns-ineffective/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=wnd-brief&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=brief&ats_es=5bdbe7016203d76da678cbe799470fb3

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