Paton: Covid Inquiry doubles down on myths that justified lockdowns

David Paton: The report then claims that had England locked down one week earlier than 23 March, deaths in the first wave would have been reduced by 48% — around 23,000 lives. But the evidence emphatically does not support this. The most comprehensive meta-analysis of lockdowns finds that, on average, they reduced Covid deaths by just over 3%, and that excludes the non-Covid mortality caused by lockdown effects. The idea that one extra week of lockdown in England would have reduced deaths by almost half is simply not credible. And on the specific question of timing, the Health Economics study is unambiguous: “We do not find that countries that implemented [lockdown] policies earlier had lower excess deaths.”..