The COVID Aftermath and Lessons Learned

 American Thinker

The most extreme abridgments took the form of lockdowns, sometimes known as "stay at home" orders.  Under these lockdowns, people were prohibited from leaving their residences except under specific limited conditions.  They were presented as necessary measures to "flatten the curve" — that is, to reduce the spread of the disease and delay infections so as to keep health services from being overwhelmed.  A first lesson is that these lockdowns didn't work.  Numerous recent studies demonstrate that there was no significant change in the course of the epidemic attributable to a lockdown, and further, lockdowns actually seemed to increase infections and mortality in proportion to the severity of the lockdown.   ............This brings us to the second lesson: overreliance on certain "scientific" experts.  With the decline of religious authority, people have sought replacements.  Science has taken on much of the vacant role, with certain figures gaining credibility by speaking with certainty and authority.  Unfortunately, that isn't science.  Real science, especially under dynamic circumstances such as a pandemic, consists of many different viewpoints with much debate and disagreement.  ....A third lesson is that authorities were granted too much power under various "emergency" orders — powers that they used virtually without restraint for extended periods of time.  Many of the normal mechanisms that would restrain state power, such as legislative and judicial methods, as well as the ability of the people to demonstrate and petition, were prohibited or severely curtailed.  As a result, even though many objected to this arbitrary exercise of power, they were prevented from taking effective measures to oppose it.  ....A fourth lesson is to be found in the contemptuous dismissal of the competence of the general populace, coupled with massive disinformation campaigns by both government and media designed to manipulate rather than inform.  Too many saw the pandemic as an opportunity to exercise power and implement programs that would, under normal conditions, never be accepted. . ...."