A major study finds that some restrictions meant to limit the spread of Covid did more harm than good.
The study found that closing schools had little effect on death rates from the virus in the US, but did “harm” children’s “educational outcomes.”
Meanwhile, stay-at-home orders, closures of restaurants, bars and gyms, and limits on visitor numbers in nursing homes failed to save lives and created “harmful social isolation.”
“The lack of evidence that these (restrictions) … reduced deaths from the pandemic suggests that they may have been implemented too aggressively in some states,” the study said.
However, the analysis did find that controversial measures, such as mandatory face masks and vaccine passports, have saved hundreds of thousands of lives in the US.
School closures had little effect on US virus death rates, but ‘harmed’ children’s ‘educational outcomes’ (stock)
Excess deaths are deaths that occurred from 2020 to 2022 that were above the baseline. Many of the states where these deaths were highest were Republican-led and in the South
This came just weeks after Dr. Anthony Fauci, who played a key role in several Covid measures, admitted that many of these measures were not based on hard science.
The new analysis, conducted by researchers at the University of Virginia, looked at mortality and population data from the CDC in all 50 states for 2020 through 2022.
The results were compared with data from 2017 to 2019.
During the two years of the pandemic, there were 1.2 million excess deaths, or deaths from any cause, that were above average.
A large portion of this surplus would have been Covid itself.
However, previous research has shown that the harm caused by lockdowns is also responsible for the higher number of deaths, such as missed cancer cases, heart attacks, late hospital admissions and suicides.
The study found that states that imposed the strictest and longest restrictions, such as New York and parts of the Northeast, had lower death rates.
For example, the 10 states with the strictest measures had an excess mortality rate of 282 per 100,000 over the 2-year period.
That’s a third lower than the 417 per 100,000 estimated for the 10 states that imposed the “weakest” restrictions, many of which were Republican-led and in the South.
The analysis found that if all 50 states had imposed the strictest restrictions, there would have been up to 250,000 fewer deaths.
While there would have been 447,000 more deaths if all states had refused to implement vaccine passports and mask mandates.
However, the research shows that many social factors played a role.
People in southern states where many more people died were more likely to have blue-collar and blue-collar jobs, meaning they didn’t have the luxury of working from home and avoiding others.
These states are also more likely to have high levels of obesity and diabetes, which increases the risk of dying from Covid. They also have fewer hospitals and doctors.
The study found that behavioral changes such as working from home, avoiding crowded places and getting vaccinated accounted for 50 to 75 percent of the decline in deaths.
The analysis found that controversial measures such as mask mandates and vaccination passports in schools and more broadly in society did indeed reduce Covid deaths. Negative numbers indicate a protective effect, while positive numbers indicate a negative effect on deaths. Activity restrictions refer to mandatory closures of restaurants, bars, and schools; stay-at-home orders; and restrictions on leisure activities and public gatherings.
The positive association between masks and lower death rates conflicts with other major studies that showed they made little difference in the spread of Covid.
The research on Covid vaccination is stronger. Those who were vaccinated were much less likely to die from the virus, especially among seniors.
The research shows that some Covid restrictions are causing long-term damage the full extent of which we do not yet know.
“Previous research shows that closing schools negatively affects educational outcomes,” writes University of Virginia economics professor Christopher Ruhm, the paper’s sole author.
“The lack of evidence that these measures have also reduced deaths from the pandemic suggests that they may have been pursued too aggressively in some states.
‘On the other hand, the mask-wearing requirements in schools were likely to be more effective and entail lower costs (for the government).
‘The social isolation experienced by nursing home residents was also detrimental, raising questions about activity restrictions that limited this group’s personal interactions.’
The research was published Friday in JAMA Health Forum.
