The Pros and Cons of Lockdowns

—<Quoted from Rational Ground>—

Pros of lockdowns

• Low chance of a possible temporary suspension of a respiratory virus
• Gives politicians and bureaucrats the appearance of “taking the pandemic seriously”

Cons of lockdowns

• People Suffering from Other Diseases
  • 1.4 million additional tuberculosis deaths due to lockdown disruptions
  • 500,000 additional deaths related to HIV

[…]

• Starvation and Food Insecurity
  • 168k child hunger deaths predicted in Africa
  • As many as 12,000 additional hunger deaths expected per day globally due to lockdown disruptions, up to 6,000 children

[…]

• Effects on Children
  • Study estimates up to 2.3 million additional child deaths in the next year from lockdowns
  • Lockdowns are fueling child labor, including in commercial sex exploitation, mining, and tobacco production
  • Up to 104% increase in new HIV infections among children

[…]

• Domestic/Sexual Abuse
  • Domestic violence reports have skyrocketed (another source here)
  • Up to 70% decrease in reports of child abuse to CPS early in lockdown

[…]

• Economy and Poverty
  • 150 million people forced into extreme poverty
  • 8 million Americans pushed into poverty – largest increase in US history
  • Half of lower-income Americans report household job or wage loss due to lockdowns

[…]

• Mental health
  • 1 in 5 U.S. adults developed mental disorder
  • 1 in 4 young adults have seriously considered suicide
  • Severe consequences from isolation of the elderly – increased mortality, worsening cognitive abilities, accelerating dementia, mental health consequences, failure to thrive, etc.

[…]

• Suicides
  • Suicide-related calls to crisis hotline in Canada increased 66 percent
  • Suicides up in Bay Area
  • Projected increase in suicides in Canada

[…]

• Substance Abuse
  • Overdoses and overdose deaths are at their highest point ever for a 12-month period in the U.S.
  • Canada seeing record number of opioid deaths (Alberta, British Columbia, Winnipeg, Saskatchewan)

[…]

—<End quote>—

The only thing I would add is that the first reason for the lockdowns, “Low chance of a possible temporary suspension of a respiratory virus”, is not supported by the evidence. Regions that have strong lockdowns have the same level of infection as those regions that don’t…. while suffering a far heavier punishment load on the general population.

(And note that we are talking about “cases”, not deaths or serious injury… which are not out of line with the typical flu season.)

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Hat tip: My gratitude to Jordan Schachtel for pointing this out, in his article The children’s mental health epidemic was caused by lockdowns, not COVID-19