A large group of medical experts called for an end to lockdowns last week in a statement known as the Barrington Declaration. The list of signatories includes people not exactly lacking in
credentials. A plethora of epidemiologists signed the statement. Experts
from such esteemed universities as Oxford and Harvard universities
signed it and a Nobel Prize winner lent his name to the
effort as well. The Declaration states:
As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.
Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.
Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.
Fortunately, our understanding of the virus is growing. We know that vulnerability to death from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.
As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.
The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.
Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to COVID-19. By way of example, nursing homes should use staff with acquired immunity and perform frequent PCR testing of other staff and all visitors. Staff rotation should be minimized. Retired people living at home should have groceries and other essentials delivered to their home. When possible, they should meet family members outside rather than inside. A comprehensive and detailed list of measures, including approaches to multi-generational households, can be implemented, and is well within the scope and capability of public health professionals.
Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.
Some of the signatories are:
Dr. Martin Kulldorff, professor of medicine at Harvard University, a biostatistician, and epidemiologist with expertise in detecting and monitoring infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety evaluations.
Dr. Sunetra Gupta, professor at Oxford University, an epidemiologist with expertise in immunology, vaccine development, and mathematical modeling of infectious diseases
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor at Stanford University Medical School, a physician, epidemiologist, health economist, and public health policy expert focusing on infectious diseases and vulnerable populations.
Dr. Rajiv Bhatia, physician, epidemiologist and public policy expert at the Veterans Administration, USA
Dr. Stephen Bremner,professor of medical statistics, University of Sussex, England
Dr. Helen Colhoun, ,professor of medical informatics and epidemiology, and public health physician, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Dr. Angus Dalgleish, oncologist, infectious disease expert and professor, St. George’s Hospital Medical School, University of London, England
Dr. Sylvia Fogel, autism expert and psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and instructor at Harvard Medical School, USA
Dr. Motti Gerlic, professor of clinical microbiology and immunology, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Dr. Annie Janvier, professor of pediatrics and clinical ethics, Université de Montréal and Sainte-Justine University Medical Centre, Canada
Dr. Andrius Kavaliunas, epidemiologist and assistant professor at Karolinska Institute, Sweden
Dr. Michael Levitt, biophysicist and professor of structural biology, Stanford University, USA.
Recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Dr. David Livermore, microbiologist, infectious disease epidemiologist and professor, University of East Anglia, England
Dr. Jonas Ludvigsson, pediatrician, epidemiologist and professor at Karolinska Institute and senior physician at Örebro University Hospital, Sweden
Dr. Paul McKeigue, physician, disease modeler and professor of epidemiology and public health, University of Edinburgh, Scotlan
Dr. Cody Meissner, professor of pediatrics, expert on vaccine development, efficacy, and safety. Tufts University School of Medicine, USA
Dr. Ariel Munitz, professor of clinical microbiology and immunology, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Dr. Eyal Shahar, physician, epidemiologist and professor (emeritus) of public health, University of Arizona, USA
Dr. Lisa White, professor of modelling and epidemiology, Oxford University, England
A complete list is on the Declaration's website.
This being 2020, no good deed goes unpunished. The media attacks began with the leftist Guardian (U.K.) acting as the C19 Establishment's leg-breaker. It made a huge fuss out of some bogus signatories. Understandable such a thing happens when open signing is allowed on the website. Next up for its ire was the American Institute for Economic Research. The libertarian-leaning Institute supported the Declaration. The mere fact AIER was involved discreds everything in their minds. Of course, never mind the Declaration is right in line with other respected organizations such as the National Bureau of Economic Research that have argued against lockdowns. Nope. Can't have any dissension or debate. However, the World Health Organization flipped its position a few days after the Declaration was issued and argued against lockdowns as well.
30 comments:
This will be the universal opinion, right after the election. The only reason there isn't agreement on COVID policy is the politics of an election year.
B-b-b-b-but the numbers are going to skyrocket with kids in school! Just wait til Labor Day! Oh no, football is being played. The numbers are going to be outrageous! The Canton Flea Market, the Fair. Doomsday!!!
Just for clarification, Oxford University isn't Ole Miss no matter how "better" you think you are. Carry on.
who is still locked down, other than a few folks at The Farm in the delta.
Nobel Laureate? Yep, so are Nobama and Gored.
Do this, dont do that, cant you read the signs....
Remember there is a huge difference between lockdowns and targeted mitigation. Restricting bars, sports, concerts, etc. where social distancing is not reasonably enforceable is not a lockdown.
Whoever saw a lock down nazi that actually financially suffered from the lockdown? Guess what, we will remember who you were. The covid scare shall pass but your antics will be remembered.
betcha o'biden doesn't follow that science
The people on my Facebook page who scream the loudest for lockdowns have one thing in common.
They are all government employees. Guaranteed checks.
@KF
Your comment is outrageous and defamatory. Public servants can be furloughed as we saw during the Trump Shutdown Crisis.
We could have lived normally since probably June if everyone would wear a mask and wash their hands after going to the bathroom. I cannot understand what people have against masks. I wear one 8 hours a day, it’s not the end of the world. The way some people behave reminds me of some 2 year old’s temper tantrums when they don’t want to wear pants...
" Public servants can be furloughed as we saw during the Trump Shutdown Crisis "
Yes and no.
There are quite a few variables involved when getting rid of a public employee.
A small Town, City or County employee can be furloughed a lot easier than a State or Federal employee.
And yes that does suck !
However, I'm a retired State/Federal Manager . . . and it was almost impossible to fire worthless employees on a good day.
BTW a furlough is nothing like firing an employee for laziness/worthlessness.
These are only facts.
Nothing outrageous and defamatory at all.
@10:57 you're right on, unfortunately all those people will never see this reality, these experts are not the ones they agree with. You're absolutely right about the media KF, and how sick is that? The Left acts like they care about people suffering, but every time information comes out that might undermine their progress to power they do everything they can to invalidate it and destroy the messengers.
To 1:10 : well, we will remember your antics, too...
@4:03 exactly. If all those Chinese would have had a culture of commonly wearing masks covid never would have sprea... uh...
Come back to reality man, there's plenty of room. https://rationalground.com/mask-charts/
I work in a bank with a fat lady (white lady). Anywho, she was a big proponent of lockdowns. She personally knows quite a few of our customers that were severely harmed by the lock downs. Claims to be their friend. She is terrified of catching covid. She knows we are considered “essential” so her pay is not at risk. She is still very ready to rip peoples livelihood from their hands.
Odd that even after we learned obesity was a big risk for covid she still stuffs her fat ass full of doughnuts every day. Every day.
I’ve had several customers upset at her continual employment at bank given her recent stance on attacking people’s ability to feed their family. She has made clear where she stands on Facebook, and customers have noticed.
I actually have an interview with her replacement tomorrow.
All these people who have been so quick to harm in the name of “safety”, many will face consequences. I think they misread their personal consequences. They thought it was only others who would suffer. Unfortunately for her, she was wrong.
5:35. Like most lock down proponents I’m sure you are some loud mouthed nobody.
We should have had heads up that we were not ready for something like this. We totally screwed up the swine flu and we were blessed It did just subside.
We have to be ready.
Very few people are still calling for dramatic and “complete” lockdowns anymore. I think Europe’s experience shows that will only buy time, not solve the problem. But there was no surefire way to know that before we actually experienced the disease and saw how relentless it is. We were absolutely right to try short and medium term closures. There were and are literally hundreds of thousands of lives at risk, and it was worth trying. Now right wingers are basically pointing out that public health officials are not soothsayers, and their argument is at the level of a child saying “na na na boo boo.” What a glorious victory for y’all. You should be proud.
Lock Down? What lock down? Where in this state is there a lock down?
But, back to the signatories. What they're saying is:
1) You people are not going to the doctor as often and we have payments due on boats, cars, hunting vehicles and condos.
2) You people are getting medical advice off the internet and you are not going to the doctor as often and we have payments due on boats, cars, hunting vehicles and condos.
3) During partial lock-downs, you people are at home watching professional epidemiologists on TV and getting your advice from them and you are not going to the doctor as often and we have payments due on boats, cars, hunting vehicles and condos.
October 13, 2020 at 4:32 PM - If you're a retired state/federal manager, you should probably know there's a huge difference between employee furlough and 'firing a state employee'. There are, in fact, no similarities.
Every state and federal agency has a written policy outlining layoff and furlough procedure as well as other separations...and a separate written policy for employee discipline, including termination.
Enjoy your retirement.
"who is still locked down, other than a few folks at The Farm in the delta. October 13, 2020 at 12:16 PM"
Ain't no farm ever been locked-down, idget. Unlike yourself, farmers don't get paid if they don't work.
@1:10 Bingo. Was arguing with a girl who didn’t realize I know her in real life and furthermore didn’t realize I know she works for Ms. Dept of Health. The point she kept making was “we need to wear the mask if only to remind people to take care of their health” (ie: keep the fear over a virus few people are affected by and needs a visible reminder and PR campaign.)
What antics? You mean the one where i insisted on continuing to provide for my family? Where i insisted on keeping on, regardless of your fear? There are pissed off people out here- I am by no means the only one. If you were one of the scared idiots I hope you kept your mouth shut. You might wanna go thru your social media accounts and do some scrubbing. I intend to use my weight/business relationships to retaliate against those who came after me. I have a few names of people who are employed by people I do business with. It will be up to that employer to decide which relationship is more important. I’m thinking my leverage is gonna win the day. To me, this isn’t vengeance- i literally can’t do business with those people any longer. To see them ruins my day. My business has recovered and I survived. My turn now. Get ready to know the feeling.
Companies might have sent employees home to work, but judging by the efficiency and seeing the cars at the neighborhood pools, I would say it was a paid vacation all summer. You would get a little correspondence via email or phone first thing in the morning, again at lunch when the kids at lunch at took naps, and then about 7-8 o'clock at night after the kids went to bed. It has slowed everyone down to a crawl as far as getting stuff done.
Also, remember when Tater Tot and PRVWSD kept people from going to the Rez? We should all have their asses for those stunts. They
October 13, 2020 at 3:38 PM
And yet the government won't go out of business. Not so for the 40% of businesses on Yelp permanently shutdown.
Yep - Shutting down fishing and boating was a plumb damned dumb decision. The only thing more dumb than shutting down was the continuation of the shut down. If Tater pulls another stunt like that one, he'll be ushered out of the building in one of those white suits with the arms tied behind the back.
4:46 am, you don't think he could have meant Parchman? Chill.
And 5:25 am, I'm sure you have everyone quaking. Your inner imposter issues are showing.
5:25AM blustered, "I intend to use my weight/business relationships to retaliate against those who came after me. I have a few names of people who are employed by people I do business with. It will be up to that employer to decide which relationship is more important."
Uh-huh. I'm sure Jamie Dimon and other CEOs are awaiting your call and ready to can the entire C-suite at JPM, etc., on your say-so. Hell, a few of the lesser ones will probably offer to let you shoot some middle management just so you won't retaliate any further.
Put another way, damned near anyone who actually could do anything at all wouldn't be stupid enough to post about it on the 'net because anyone who actually could do anything would know they would be begging to be in real litigation (i.e., not Mississippi attorneys) for the foreseeable future.
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