Realist, not conformist analysis of the latest financial, business and political news

A Modest Proposal About The Coronavirus

Why do not the Covid-19 lockdowns and other nonpharmaceutical interventions have to meet the same strict standard in the United States that the FDA requires new drugs and medical devices to meet?

Around here we’d suggest that the same standards ought to apply to all government interventions. Antitrust rulings, tax changes, diversity training, the lot. Why are people allowed to foist untested and life changing treatments upon us?

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Barks
Barks
3 years ago

That would knock off about 95% of the nonsense the government foists off on the citizens.

john77
john77
3 years ago

Because you cannot carry out whole-population experiments tens of thousands of times over.

Charles
Charles
3 years ago

So before getting Brexit done we need to have studies that show it will be effective? Sounds like a great idea to me. And before Boris gets to be PM, we need studies demonstrating his effectiveness. Even better. However, it would mean we’d never change anything.

Boganboy
Boganboy
3 years ago
Reply to  Charles

‘However, it would mean we’d never change anything.’

You certainly know how to find an argument that’ll appeal to me.

Esteban
Esteban
3 years ago

Radio caller tried to argue that no one should be promoting hydroxychloroquine, zinc, etc. unless they could cite double-blind peer reviewed studies, etc. Host asked “you got any of those showing Lockdowns work”?

Martin Sewell
3 years ago

Two cost–benefit analyses of the first UK lockdown showed that the costs exceeded the benefits by an order of magnitude.[1][2] Now two global analyses of COVID-19 death rates both found that lockdowns don’t actually reduce the number of deaths.[3][4] Whilst the public wearing masks is ineffective.[5][6]
[1] https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcp.13674
[2] https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/graa030
[3] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100464
[4] https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.604339
[5] https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.01.20049528
[6] https://doi.org/10.7326/M20-6817

Charles
Charles
3 years ago
Reply to  Martin Sewell

[1] and [2] are useless modelling dressed up in a mathematical disguise. They presume that the lockdown actually implemented is the only thing to compare against and cherry-pick countries to compare. If you include places like China, New Zealand and other Eastern countries you see that when properly implemented lockdown is both very effective and much cheaper than those used in Europe which were too late and had insufficient compliance. The studies also assume that there is no cost to no lockdown. However the reality is that people would have taken their own measures anyway. Regardless of when the government… Read more »

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