The Perpetual Defense of Covid Mandates: A Critical Analysis
2024: The Persistent Defense of Covid Mandates by Experts
Despite Overwhelming Evidence, Covid Mandates Continue to be Upheld
It's 2024 and experts continue to defend Covid mandates, despite the overwhelming evidence against the effectiveness of these policies and interventions. Mask mandates have proven to be a failure, with populations that heavily used masks often faring worse than those with little to no masking. Vaccine mandates and passports have also been disastrous, fostering mistrust and resistance, and in some cases, leading to unnecessary side effects. School closures have been a global disaster, made all the more frustrating by the fact that examples from around the world showed they were not necessary.
Unfounded Claims in Defense of Covid Mandates
Despite the evidence, those committed to the idea of Covid mandates continue to seek ways to validate their beliefs. This has led to some rather absurd claims. Recently, two researchers from the University of Colorado, Boulder and the University of California, Los Angeles published a paper claiming that social distancing, lockdowns, mask mandates, and Covid vaccines saved approximately 800,000 American lives during the pandemic. They arrived at this conclusion using a model based on estimates of lives saved and their educated guess on the number of Americans vaccinated before becoming infected.
Questionable Methodology and Data
The methodology used in the study is questionable at best. The researchers used serology data on the timing of infections and vaccinations, but without direct links between individuals who were infected and those who were vaccinated, the data is of little use. Additionally, the data on Covid deaths by vaccination status from just 30 states was used to create the model. This type of data is notoriously unreliable due to the way it is collected and the numerous mistakes made by public health administrators throughout the pandemic.
Assumptions and Ignorance of Key Factors
The model used by the researchers is based on assumptions that are not accurate. For instance, it assumes that behavioral modifications were responsible for reducing the death rate in 2020 and early 2021, and that vaccines saved hundreds of thousands of lives. However, states and countries that did not implement similar behavioral modifications often had better results. The model also ignores the impact of more transmissible, less virulent variants, and the increase in testing in 2021 and 2022, which could have led to an overcount of Covid deaths.
The Damaging Effects of Covid Policies
The model also fails to account for the harmful effects of these policies, such as increased deaths from lockdowns, despair, substance abuse, and addiction. It overlooks the rise in obesity and learning loss, as well as the physical abuse suffered by children who were no longer in schools. The model seems to be a politically motivated tool used by media outlets to justify their advocacy and the activism of individuals like Dr. Fauci and organizations like the CDC.
Continued Defense of Covid Mandates
Despite all the evidence suggesting a more complicated picture, the defense of Covid mandates continues. It seems that as long as there are researchers committed to upholding their ideological biases, we will continue to see misleading publications. It's almost as if they are preparing to implement the same mandates for the next pandemic.
