Fauci defies science with lockdown remark

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci last week defied science when he said lockdowns had a positive impact on public health. 

When Fauci was asked on BBC’s Sunday Morning whether lockdowns were “worth it” or “too severe”, the Chief Medical Adviser to the President did not provide a straight answer. 

“You know, I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to determine what the right balance is,” said Fauci. "I think the restrictions — if you want to use that word, which I tend to shy away from, lockdown — they certainly prevented a lot of infections, prevented a lot of hospitalizations, and prevented a lot of deaths. There’s no doubt about that.” 

As reported by Frontline News, the pandemic's lockdowns did not prevent deaths or hospitalizations, according to a study from Johns Hopkins University. They did, however, cause an increase in poverty and domestic violence, less education, and higher unemployment. 

“While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted,” the study found. “In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”  

The lockdowns also caused a 60% increase in the number of psychiatric patients in Israel, according to an Israeli study.  

That study also shows that during lockdowns, the number of obese patients increased 8%, the number of smoking patients went up 7%, the number of patients suffering from high blood pressure increased 6%, and the number of patients with cardiovascular diseases jumped 14%.    

According to another report, experts are warning of a “psychiatric pandemic” among children and adolescents due to lockdowns that were imposed.  

Despite all the evidence, Fauci suggested that lockdowns should be considered as a COVID-19 measure again. 

"I don't want to use the word ‘lockdowns’. That has a charged element to it,” he told BBC. “But, I believe that we must keep our eye on the pattern of what we're seeing with infections. Having said that, we need to be prepared for the possibility that we would have another variant that would come along.” 

And if we did, then we would need to return to lockdowns, said Fauci. 

“And then, if things change and we do get a variant that does give us an uptick in cases and hospitalization, we should be prepared and flexible enough to pivot toward going back – at least temporarily – to a more rigid type of restrictions, such as requiring masks indoors." 

Fauci did acknowledge that lockdowns came with "unintended negative consequences" particularly when it comes to children who were unable to attend school.