Covid 19

Only a politically based source would push such a questionable economic study that no other researcher has cited in reference according to Google Scholar. In fact the other publications by these authors are often uncited or are cited once or twice, which indicates a lack of confidence in their work by other researchers.

The fact this study excluded any data containing what it considered possible voluntary actions from mandated actions based solely upon their own estimates is a questionable approach at best given that lockdowns as defined by the study are intended to affect public awareness and change actions.

The second problem is that it is extremely difficult to differentiate between the effect of public awareness and the effect of lockdowns. If people and politicians react to the same information, for example deaths in geographical neighboring countries (many EU-countries reacted to deaths in Italy) or in another part of the same country, the effect of lockdowns cannot easily be separated from the effect of voluntary social distancing or, use of hand sanitizers. Hence, we find it problematic to use national lockdowns and differences in the progress of the pandemic in different regions to say anything about the effect of early lockdowns on the pandemic, as the estimated effect might just as well come from voluntary behavior changes, when people in Southern Italy react to the situation in Northern Italy.

We have seen no studies which we believe credibly separate the effect of early lockdown from the effect of early voluntary behavior changes. Instead, the estimates in these studies capture the effects of lockdowns and voluntary behavior changes. As Herby (2021) illustrates, voluntary behavior changes are essential to a society’s response to an pandemic and can account for up to 90% of societies’ total response to the pandemic.

Including these studies will greatly overestimate the effect of lockdowns, and, hence, we chose not to include studies focusing on timing of lockdowns in our review.

 

U.S. approaches 1M COVID deaths on 2nd anniversary of pandemic

DYLAN STABLEFORD
March 10, 2022, 1:16 PM

This Friday will mark the second anniversary of March 11, 2020 — the day many Americans recognize as the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a few weeks, the nation will likely reach a grim milestone that once seemed unimaginable: 1 million COVID-19 deaths.

According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 964,000 Americans have died of complications from COVID-19, and nearly 50,000 in the past 28 days.

At that rate, the U.S. will surpass 1 million coronavirus deaths in about 20 days, or the end of March.

The death toll is especially staggering when you consider what Americans thought it would be at the start of the pandemic. According to a Yahoo News/YouGov poll conducted at the time, 88 percent predicted that the U.S. death toll — then at 28 — would never top 10,000.

In April 2020, President Donald Trump said the projected number of American deaths related to the coronavirus would be “substantially under” 100,000 people.

“It looks like we’ll be at about a 60,000 mark,” Trump said on April 19, 2020. The U.S. passed 100,000 coronavirus deaths a month later.

In February 2021, shortly after he took office, President Biden addressed the nation from the White House after the U.S. surpassed 500,000 COVID-19 deaths.
“As we acknowledge the scale of this mass death in America, we remember each person and the life they lived,” Biden said. “They’re people we knew. They’re people we feel like we knew.”

Around that time, nearly a quarter (23 percent) of Americans said that a close friend or family member had died of COVID-19.

“We have to fight this together, as one people, as the United States of America,” Biden said. “That’s the only way we're going to beat this virus. … We can do this.”

Last July, Biden delivered an Independence Day speech in which he all but declared victory over COVID-19.

"We are emerging from the darkness of years; a year of pandemic and isolation; a year of pain, fear and heartbreaking loss," he said. "Today, we're closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus."
But the emergence of the highly contagious Delta and Omicron variants, combined with the reluctance of a large swath of Americans to get vaccinated, set back that declaration indefinitely.

The president has since acknowledged that clear victory over the coronavirus, at least from a federal government perspective, may never come.

“Look, there is no federal solution,” Biden said on Dec. 27. “This gets solved at a state level.”

During the past few months, many states have decided to lift mask requirements and other restrictions.

In February, California became the first state to formally shift to an "endemic" approach to the coronavirus, with Gov. Gavin Newsom announcing a plan that emphasizes quick reaction to community outbreaks over mandates and shutdowns. "We will work to live with this virus," he said.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration unveiled a similar plan to keep COVID-19 from causing mass disruption in the months and years to come.

During his State of the Union address, Biden vowed to move the country beyond the emergency stage of the pandemic, while also refusing to give up the fight.

“I know some are talking about living with COVID-19,” the president said. “But tonight, I say that we never will just accept living with COVID-19.”