Steve Forbes Tears Into Covid-19 Restrictions

The surge in the latest variant of Covid-19 has set off ominous noises about another round of mandatory indoor mask wearing, “focused” lockdowns and school closures next fall.

This segment of What’s Ahead points out why these measures should be fiercely resisted. They are proven failures.

For instance, China’s ghastly “zero Covid-19” campaign demonstrates, yet again, that lockdowns, at best, slow the spread of the disease but don’t prevent it.

The World Health Organization recently released a report somberly entitled “Global excess deaths associated with Covid-19, January 2020–December 2021.” It focuses on what is called “excess mortality,” that is, “The difference between the total number of deaths that would have been expected in the absence of the pandemic, i.e., a no-Covid-19 scenario.”

The stunner here is Sweden, which has been vilified for defying expert opinion on sweeping lockdowns, indoor mask mandates and school closures. It turns out that among 30 European nations, Sweden’s rate of excess mortality was among the lowest. Countries, such as Germany, that pursued harsh antipandemic policies fared worse.

As noted observer Ian Miller put it for the Brownstone Institute: “[Sweden] limited the negative impacts of Covid while avoiding higher numbers of deaths from other lockdown-derived consequences.”