In reviewing the many different government actions taken during the COVID epidemic aimed at slowing the spread of the virus, scientists have found that none of these policies accomplished anything.
No matter how we approached these questions, the primary finding was lack of definitive patterns that could support claims about governmental policy impacts. About half the time, government policies were followed by better Covid-19 outcomes, and half of the time they were not. The findings were sometimes contradictory, with some policies appearing helpful when tested one way, and the same policy appearing harmful when tested another way. No claims about the relationship between government responses and pandemic outcomes held generally. Looking at stay-at-home policies and school closures, about half the time it looked like Covid-19 outcomes improved after their imposition, and half the time they got worse. Every policy, Covid-19 outcome, time period, and modeling approach yielded a similar level of uncertainty: about half the time it looked like things got better, and half the time like things got worse.
…Yet scientists used these data to make definitive conclusions.
Claims that government responses made Covid-19 worse are not broadly true, and the same goes for claims that government responses were useless or ineffective. Claims that government responses help reduce the burden of Covid-19 are also not true. What is true is that there is no strong evidence to support claims about the impacts of the policies, one way or the other.
The bottom line — which has been obvious from day one of the panic — is that any claims of certain knowledge and success by any government official was a lie. This was especially true — and noted here and in numerous conservative news sites repeatedly — when government agencies like the CDC would willy-nilly change its guidelines even though there had been no additional published research justifying those changes.
The best example was the CDC’s guidelines on masks. For decades health agencies clearly stated, based on actual research going back almost a century, that masks were not only useless but a risk for those with heart and lung conditions. Suddenly, with no further data, the guidelines were changed and masks were the best thing since sliced bread.
Similarly the guidelines on social distancing would change over and over again, even though there was literally no data to support that measure, and continues to be none (as now admitted by Anthony Fauci this week when pressed during congressional hearings). In fact, no research was ever done, and it appears the idea of social distancing actually came from a high school science fair project that the entire edifice of government petty dictators glommed onto in glee.
All of this raises a more fundamental question: Why do so many people so quickly accept government claims, on anything? And why do so many people continue to assume these same dishonest government officials can fix any problem?
Government officials generally know little about anything, other than how to tell others what to do. Such people are the last people we should ask for advice.
Delusions of Adequacy 