by Brownstone Institute and Jeffrey Tucker at Brownstone Insights
There was a time. What seemed to be unfolding was a huge intellectual error for the history books. A new virus had come along and everyone was freaking out and smashing all normal social functioning.
The excuse turns out just to be the cover story. Still, it bears examination.
Even though plenty of outside commentators said the pathogen should be handled in the normal way – with known treatment and calm while those most susceptible stayed cautious until endemicity – some people on the inside fell prey to a great fallacy. They had come to believe computer models over known realities. They thought that you could separate everyone, drive down infections, and then the virus would die out.
This was never a plausible scenario, as anyone who knew something about the history of pandemics would report. All known experience stood against this cockmamie scheme. The science was very clear and widely available: lockdowns do not work. Physical interventions in general achieve nothing.
But, hey, they said it was an experiment born of new thinking. They would give it a whirl…
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