(Brownstone Institute) — The claim is now everywhere: we had to lock down because we just didn’t know about this virus. It was all very confusing and we had to play it safe. We had no other option because we just had no clarity about what we were dealing with. The precautionary principle dictated the unprecedented actions.
Actually, the precautionary principle goes both directions. It also dictates that we not enact policies that we know for sure would wreck lives and liberties. They did it anyway, without sufficient knowledge that the measures would achieve any positive good.
We approach the third year and people have forgotten that all the harms of lockdowns were strongly warned about by many voices in many venues. In addition, the virus was much better understood back then and openly discussed. We knew for certain that the panic and fear were being wildly overblown.
Below follows resources assembled by the “Robber Baron” and many others who write for the Brownstone Institute. These citations from newspapers, magazines, academic journals, and interviews, with many respected voices, show that we certainly knew tremendous amounts in the early days. All the warnings and information were readily available to anyone paying attention.
We certainly live in an age of short attention span but many these signs and warnings came weeks or months before the world locked down and they chronicled the damage as it was happening. Why all this came to be completely ignored remains the burning question.
- 2019: WHO Global Influenza Programme recommends against lockdowns and masks
- September 2019: Johns Hopkins pandemic preparedness study recommends against lockdowns
- January 24: Doctor warns that mass quarantine won’t work and will devastate society
- January 30: Obama health adviser says stop panicking
- February 5: Fauci says there’s no asymptomatic spread
- February 28: Fauci says this is more akin to flu than something more deadly
- March: 81% of Chinese COVID cases are mild
- March 1: Sweden: No effective measure to let healthy school children stay at home
- March 2: Discussion on how COVID IFR was likely much lower than predicted
- March 2: 800 public health scientists warn against lockdowns, quarantines, restrictions
- March 3: Article on why masks are impractical
- March 3: Berkeley doctor indicates masks are not helpful in preventing COVID
- March 4: Doctor says COVID not nearly as deadly as feared
- March 4: Your doctor is not panicking and neither should you
- March 6: Doctor talking about unnecessary panic over COVID
- March 9: Article on how COVID is only really dangerous to the elderly
- March 12: Chief medical officer saying people shouldn’t wear masks
- March 13: Review found severe mental health problems from prolonged quarantine
- March 15: Medical organisation says stopping elective surgeries is unnecessary and dangerous
- March 17: Warning of financial crisis, unrest, civil strife, war, and a meltdown of the social fabric
- March 19: Article about COVID overaction and its issues
- March 25: Data about the health impacts of crushing the economy
- March 26: Early evidence of hospitals inaccurately listing COVID as cause of death
- March 26: Early data show we’re overreacting to COVID (Diamond Princess)
- March 28: Predictions about the harms of lockdowns: Drugs, Suicide, and Crime
- March 28: Guardian outlines rise in domestic abuse throughout the world
- March 30: Study showing children are not the primary spreader of COVID
- April 1: Article saying masks offer little to no advantage outside of hospital settings
- April 3: An overview on the dangers of lockdowns
- April 4: Warning of the harm in delaying non-COVID medical procedures
- April 4: Research showing the seasonality of coronaviruses
- April 6: N. warns about domestic violence surge
- April 6: Piece on domestic abuse during lockdown
- April 7: Study from China finds of 7,324 COVID-19 cases only two transmissions occurred outdoors
- April 7: Piece on the mental health cost of the lockdown on kids
- April 8: Research showing school lockdowns aren’t helpful and cause great harm
- April 13: More confirmation about domestic abuse rising due to lockdowns
- April 14: Children are very unlikely to contract COVID
- April 15: Barely any transmission from outdoor activities
- April 15:Different approaches by countries have little impact on COVID deaths
- April 15: Molecular biologist suggests the cure is worse than the disease
- April 16:UN overview about the poverty/death that will come from lockdowns
- April 16: CDC mask study concludes that masks don’t work
- April 17: Info on how damaging cancelled procedures are
- April 20: Oxford professor says cases in U.K. peaked before lockdown
- April 22: Potential for 60,000 cancer deaths due to lack of screening/treatment
- April 23: The harm lockdowns are having on people with heart conditions
- April 24: Data on the mental health toll of lockdowns
- April 24: Study showing school closings are the least cost-effective pandemic policy
- April 27: The rise of domestic abuse during lockdowns
- April 28: Increasing child abuse is a side effect of COVID lockdowns
- April 29: Cancer deaths could increase by 20% due to lockdown
- May 1: Indications from Europe that lockdowns are ineffective
Reprinted with permission from the Brownstone Institute.