What if more people will die because of a lengthy shutdown and not COVID-19? That’s the discussion Dr. Jonathan Geach and six doctor colleagues hoped to have by writing the essay “Eight Reasons to End the Lockdowns as Soon as Possible.” The piece was pulled from popular online publisher Medium after its Trust & Safety Team found the ideas presented unacceptably dangerous. Why? Well, the heterodox views expressed by the authors apparently are too dangerous for you to read. But Liberty Nation interviewed Dr. Geach to learn his arguments for ending the lockdown and his prescription for coming out of the pandemic.
Who Counts the Non-Virus Dead?
An anesthesiologist, Dr. Geach had never before written about public policy. He told LN he was frustrated that “we seem to have an illogical response to ending the lockdown stage” of fighting the Coronavirus pandemic. While the potential deaths due to the virus’s spread are counted, there are no ledger entries on the other side. Geach and his co-authors are concerned not about questionable virus and vaccine conspiracy theories but simply seek sound analysis on decision making to reopen the country. If the lockdown is in place to save lives, counting the lives that stay-at-home edicts cost seems like an important element to gauge when considering whether to lift them. The doctor explained his rationale:
“I just decided I would collate the evidence that I could find that meant that we'd probably save more lives by ending the lockdown sooner rather than later.”
Suicides and untreated diseases are two of the key areas where deaths will rise substantially because of the lockdown. The article points to studies linking economic ruin to increased suicides and notes the “16.5 million jobs lost thus far.” Geach told LN about a study published in The Lancet that attributed a massive increase in cancer deaths to the economic meltdown of 2008:
“The study estimates that the recent economic crisis was associated with over 260,000 additional cancer deaths in countries within the Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) by 2010 … ”
Geach thinks that number seems high, and it is only for deaths from one type of disease, cancer, and not worldwide. What would a truer picture of the costs of economic downturn look like?
Putting the Lie to Putting Money Over People
Geach’s claim that “[t]here is just as much medical risk of additional deaths by extending the lockdowns as there are by ending them as soon as possible” is too important to be swept aside as some kind of misinformation effort. Along with livelihoods destroyed, herd immunity is being delayed, screenings are on hold, blood and organ donations are virtually halted – all of these have negative, even fatal, health consequences to those who do not have Coronavirus.
If the societal shutdown we are undergoing can’t survive a challenging essay from a half-dozen doctors, that says more about the authorities than Geach and his co-writers. Although the essay was pulled, Geach reposted it with a bold disclaimer at the top. So far, Medium has allowed the revised version to stay. The authors of the essay do not say social distancing is ineffective, they say the opposite; they celebrate the fact that medical facilities have not been burdened beyond capacity.
Geach is quick to add that his concern is not about the economy or finances but public health. He said, "[T]he common refrain I've seen against ending the lockdowns as soon as possible is that we're putting money over people.” The authors wrote the piece “Eight Reasons to End the Lockdowns as Soon as Possible” to advance public health outcomes, not economic ones. Geach says he would like to show that ending the lockdown is "not about money but for the best health of the country."
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Read more from Scott D. Cosenza.
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