IEA research featured in The Times
Did lockdowns work? The verdict on COVID restrictions, a new book published by the IEA on the impact of lockdown policies on COVID-19 mortality has been featured in The Times.
The article said:
“
The authors are economists and not epidemiological modellers — sniff the epidemiological modellers, who have a proprietary grip on the public imagination following their dire warnings three years ago. Critics warn against believing the choice was between lockdown as implemented and doing nothing.
“Having read the report, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs this week, that is not at all what the authors are saying. They are not advocating “let it rip”. Instead, the report is a nuanced assessment of the effectiveness of individual measures. It is also an exploration of whether it is best for governments to compel a shutdown, or to rely on citizens using their own judgment on risk. Their assessment on deaths suggests the benefits were oversold. The average lockdown in Europe and the United States in the spring of 2020 reduced Covid-19 mortality by only 3.2 per cent, or approximately 6,000 avoided deaths in Europe and 4,000 in the US.”
Read the full article
here.