The Lockdowns Caused at Least 170,000 Excess Deaths in the US By Chris Knight (Florida)
According to a number of academic studies, the Covid lockdowns resulted in more lives lost than were allegedly saved. The National Bureau of Economic Research report by Casey Mulligan and Robert Arnott, Non-Covid Excess Deaths 2020-2021: Collateral Damage of Policy Choices (June, 2022), abstract and reference below, concluded that the lockdowns in the US resulted in at least 170,000 excess deaths from 2020 to 2021, although they believe that the number is closer to 200,000. This larger figure is consistent with other estimates, such as by The Economist, they note, who put the excess death figure at 199,000. These deaths are from numerous sources, such as failures to receive cancer screening and medical attention, given the freak-out of the medical profession.
“Yet another study has concluded that restrictive lockdowns contributed to a massive spike in excess deaths, with a 26% jump in mortality rate for working-age adults in America.
The study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that there were conservatively 170,000+ non-Covid excess deaths in the U.S. through 2020 and 2021.
The study notes that the real number is likely closer to 200,000 because over 70,000 so called “unmeasured Covid deaths,” that is people who may have died only with the virus and not from it, were not taken into account.
The researchers wrote that “Summing our estimates across causes and age groups, we estimate 171,000 excess non-Covid deaths through the end of 2021 plus 72,000 unmeasured Covid deaths. The Economist has assembled national-level mortality data from around the world and obtains a similar U.S. estimate, which is 199,000 (including any unmeasured Covid) or about 60 persons per 100,000 population (Global Change Data Lab 2022).”
They added that “While Covid deaths overwhelmingly afflict senior citizens, absolute numbers of non-Covid excess deaths are similar for each of the 18-44, 45-64, and over-65 age groups, with essentially no aggregate excess deaths of children. Mortality from all causes during the pandemic was elevated 26 percent for working-age adults (18-64), as compared to 18 percent for the elderly.”
The level of excess deaths dovetails with findings from other studies across the globe that found everywhere that locked down experienced a similar spike in mortality rates.
The NBER researchers state that “For the European Union as a whole, the estimate is near-identical at 64 non-Covid excess deaths per 100K.”
They also point out that “In contrast, the estimate for Sweden is -33, meaning that non-Covid causes of death were somewhat low during the pandemic.”
“We suspect that some of the international differences are due to the standard used to designate a death as Covid, but perhaps also Sweden’s result is related to minimizing the disruption of its citizen’s normal lifestyles,” the researchers add.
In other words, Sweden did not lock down and also did not experience an increase in non-COVID mortality rates.
Figures released by the World Health Organization last month show that Sweden had fewer COVID deaths per capita than much of Europe despite refusing to enforce strict lockdowns and mask mandates like numerous other nearby countries.
“In 2020 and 2021, the country had an average excess death rate of 56 per 100,000 – compared to 109 in the UK, 111 in Spain, 116 in Germany and 133 in Italy,” reported the Telegraph.
A study conducted by Johns Hopkins University and released in February concluded that global lockdowns have had a much more detrimental impact on society than they have produced any benefit, with researchers urging that they “are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”
“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 concluded.
Reporting on the new study, the New York Times noted “the rate of death from all causes for younger adults has risen by a bigger percentage than has the rate of death from all causes for old people.”
https://www.nber.org/papers/w30104
“From April 2020 through at least the end of 2021, Americans died from non-Covid causes at an average annual rate 97,000 in excess of previous trends. Hypertension and heart disease deaths combined were elevated 32,000. Diabetes or obesity, drug-induced causes, and alcohol-induced causes were each elevated 12,000 to 15,000 above previous (upward) trends. Drug deaths especially followed an alarming trend, only to significantly exceed it during the pandemic to reach 108,000 for calendar year 2021. Homicide and motor-vehicle fatalities combined were elevated almost 10,000. Various other causes combined to add 18,000. While Covid deaths overwhelmingly afflict senior citizens, absolute numbers of non-Covid excess deaths are similar for each of the 18-44, 45-64, and over-65 age groups, with essentially no aggregate excess deaths of children. Mortality from all causes during the pandemic was elevated 26 percent for working-age adults (18-64), as compared to 18 percent for the elderly. Other data on drug addictions, non-fatal shootings, weight gain, and cancer screenings point to a historic, yet largely unacknowledged, health emergency.”
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w30104/w30104.pdf
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