{"id":27055,"date":"2021-06-22T17:38:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T21:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?p=27055"},"modified":"2021-06-22T17:39:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T21:39:41","slug":"mit-data-scientist-lockdowns-not-correlated-with-fewer-deaths-but-are-correlated-with-more-unemployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2021\/06\/22\/mit-data-scientist-lockdowns-not-correlated-with-fewer-deaths-but-are-correlated-with-more-unemployment\/","title":{"rendered":"MIT Data Scientist: Lockdowns Not Correlated With Fewer Deaths (But Are Correlated With More Unemployment)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2021\/06\/22\/mit-data-scientist-lockdowns-not-correlated-with-fewer-deaths-but-are-correlated-with-more-unemployment\/lockdowns_unemployment\/\" class=\"attachment wp-att-27057 keychainify-checked\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/lockdowns_unemployment-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"802\" height=\"533\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-27057\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/lockdowns_unemployment-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/lockdowns_unemployment-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/lockdowns_unemployment-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/lockdowns_unemployment-180x120.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/lockdowns_unemployment.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 802px) 100vw, 802px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dozens of studies show that <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aier.org\/article\/lockdowns-do-not-control-the-coronavirus-the-evidence\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">lockdowns were an ineffective<\/a> pandemic response. The list just got longer.<\/p>\n<p>In May, Youyang Gu, an MIT-trained engineer and data scientist, released data showing that government restrictions were not correlated with lower COVID mortality in America. Government restrictions were correlated with higher unemployment, however.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the US, there is no correlation between Covid deaths &amp; changes in unemployment rates. However, blue states are much more likely to have higher increases in unemployment,\u201d wrote Gu, the creator of covid19-projections.com, a pandemic modeling site. \u201cMore restrictions in a state is NOT correlated with fewer COVID-19 deaths. However, more restrictions IS correlated with higher unemployment.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><iframe style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 922px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=feeonline&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X2VtYmVkX2NsaWNrYWJpbGl0eV8xMjEwMiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250cm9sIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1397230156301930497&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Ffee.org%2Farticles%2Fmit-data-scientist-lockdowns-not-correlated-with-fewer-deaths-but-are-correlated-with-more-unemployment%2F&amp;sessionId=db80a48140769aca8e2e1362774b606229c26390&amp;siteScreenName=feeonline&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=82e1070%3A1619632193066&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1397230156301930497\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"link-0\">Recognizing the Failure of Lockdowns<\/h2>\n<p>The COVID-19 pandemic is finally winding down and more and more people are beginning to acknowledge some hard truths about the failures of the collective response to the virus.<\/p>\n<p>George Orwell famously observed that during deceitful times telling the truth is a revolutionary act, so the fact that so many people are finally acknowledging hard truths appears to be a sign we are emerging from deceitful times.<\/p>\n<p>For some, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, these truths are bitter medicine. As Hannah Cox recently observed, Fauci has been on the wrong side of numerous pandemic confrontations with Sen. Rand Paul\u2014<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/rand-paul-has-won-every-single-round-against-fauci\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\">and has found himself on the losing end<\/a> each time.<\/p>\n<p>Yet facts are stubborn things. And 14 months after the pandemic\u2019s arrival, we have an abundance of data that shows <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/new-study-reveals-that-stay-at-home-orders-backfired-heres-why\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\">stay-at-home orders backfired<\/a> and lockdowns were <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/3-studies-that-show-lockdowns-are-ineffective-at-slowing-covid-19\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\">terribly ineffective<\/a> at slowing the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n<p>The harms of lockdowns, however, are undeniable: economic collapse, millions of jobs and businesses lost, rampant spending, surging debt and <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2020\/12\/16\/poverty-rising\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">poverty<\/a>, an <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/drug-overdose-deaths-skyrocketed-to-record-levels-amid-pandemic-lockdowns-new-cdc-data-show\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\">explosion of drug overdoses<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/harvard-researchers-nearly-half-of-young-adults-showing-signs-of-depression-amid-pandemic\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\" data-original-title=\"\" title=\"\">poor mental health<\/a>, and a collapse of health screenings (<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/cancer-screenings-plummeted-in-2020-the-results-are-grim\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\">including cancer<\/a>) that will result in hundreds of thousands of excess deaths in the coming years\u2014if not millions.<\/p>\n<p>It will not be easy to acknowledge this failure. As <em>The New York Times <\/em>noted in 2017, humans struggle mightily to admit we were wrong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMistakes can be hard to digest, so sometimes we double down rather than face them. Our confirmation bias kicks in, causing us to seek out evidence to prove what we already believe,\u201d wrote Kristin Wong. \u201cThe car you cut off has a small dent in its bumper, which obviously means that it is the other driver\u2019s fault.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both;\">\n<div id=\"om-fqmeg7lcejd7fy5oro5r-holder\">\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"om-lxkcubhhqwmdm0lkjkbp-holder\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>There\u2019s a name for this psychological phenomenon: cognitive dissonance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCognitive dissonance is what we feel when the self-concept \u2014 I\u2019m smart, I\u2019m kind, I\u2019m convinced this belief is true \u2014 is threatened by evidence that we did something that wasn\u2019t smart, that we did something that hurt another person, that the belief isn\u2019t true,\u201d Carol Tavris, a co-author of the book <em><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3bZ5GWS\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me<\/a><\/em>), told the <em>Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Tavris added that cognitive dissonance poses a threat to our sense of self.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo reduce dissonance, we have to modify the self-concept or accept the evidence,\u201d Tavris said. \u201cGuess which route people prefer?\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"link-1\">\u2018Dizzy With Success\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Coming to grips with the failure of lockdowns is important for several reasons.<\/p>\n<p>For starters, the pandemic of 2020 will not be the last pandemic Americans face. If we\u2019re to avoid the painful experience in the future, we\u2019ll need to better understand how <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/epidemiologist-sweden-s-covid-response-isn-t-unorthodox-the-rest-of-the-world-s-is\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\" data-original-title=\"\" title=\"\" aria-describedby=\"popover971514\">the unorthodox pandemic response<\/a> came about and determine which public health policies worked and which did not.<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s an even larger lesson that can be learned. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, F.A. Hayek warned of the danger of mankind\u2019s inability to recognize the limits of its knowledge and power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is danger in the exuberant feeling of ever growing power which the advance of the physical sciences has engendered and which tempts man to try, \u201cdizzy with success\u201d, to use a characteristic phrase of early communism, to subject not only our natural but also our human environment to the control of a human will,\u201d Hayek said.<\/p>\n<p>Dizzy with success in this age of wonders, Hayek feared humans would be bewitched by their accomplishments and believe they could achieve <em>anything <\/em>if they could only control society\u2014\u201da striving which makes him not only a tyrant over his fellows, but which may well make him the destroyer of a civilization which no brain has designed but which has grown from the free efforts of millions of individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We witnessed firsthand in 2020 the fruit borne from this effort to control society to save it. There\u2019s an important lesson in humility there, if humans are wise enough to see it.<\/p>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" defer=\"\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n<div>\n<h5><a href=\"http:\/\/fee.org\/people\/jon-miltimore\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\"><br \/>\nJon Miltimore<br \/>\n<\/a><\/h5>\n<p class=\"brief-bio\">\n<p>Jonathan Miltimore is the Managing Editor of FEE.org. <span>His writing\/reporting has been the subject of articles in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, and the Star Tribune.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Bylines: Newsweek, The Washington Times, MSN.com, The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, the Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/mit-data-scientist-lockdowns-not-correlated-with-fewer-deaths-but-are-correlated-with-more-unemployment\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dozens of studies show that lockdowns were an ineffective pandemic response. The list just got longer. In May, Youyang Gu, an MIT-trained engineer and data scientist, released data showing that government restrictions were not correlated with lower COVID mortality in America. Government restrictions were correlated with higher unemployment, however. \u201cIn the US, there is no correlation between Covid deaths &amp; changes in unemployment rates. However, blue states are much more likely to have higher increases in unemployment,\u201d wrote Gu, the creator of covid19-projections.com, a pandemic modeling site. \u201cMore restrictions in a state is NOT correlated with fewer COVID-19 deaths. However, more restrictions IS correlated with higher unemployment.\u201d Recognizing the Failure of Lockdowns The COVID-19 pandemic is finally winding down and more and more people are beginning to acknowledge some hard truths about the failures of the collective response to the virus. George Orwell famously observed that during deceitful times telling the truth is a revolutionary act, so the fact that so many people are finally acknowledging hard truths appears to be a sign we are emerging from deceitful times. For some, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, these truths are bitter medicine. As Hannah Cox recently observed, Fauci has been on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[3627,3761,3760,1862],"class_list":["post-27055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-politics","tag-covid-19","tag-deaths","tag-lockdowns","tag-unemployment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}