Tomorrow, on March 11, marks the five-year anniversary of when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic. China responded to COVID by implementing draconian lockdowns and the world has not been the same ever since. Who cares if there was no evidence for lockdowns and that the pandemic guidance set by such organizations as WHO and Johns Hopkins advised against lockdowns? With Sweden being the notable exception, the world followed suit in terms of locking down the economy. Did the lockdowns help with preventing more death? No, it did not.
If anything, the lockdowns increased excess death, which is not a surprise when non-COVID healthcare was postponed in 2020 and lockdowns exacerbated mental health. Lockdowns also could not pass a sniff test when it came to a proper cost-benefit analysis, meaning that we ended up paying way more than we should have. While the lockdowns are a thing of the past that almost all of us would prefer to forget, the truth is that the effects of those lockdowns and other non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) still live with us today. Since I live in the United States, I take this from a mostly U.S.-based perspective, but will cite other studies when available. In Part I, I want to cover the health-related costs that have reverberated as a result of the lockdowns.
There is still a backlog in healthcare created by the lockdowns. Only allowing hospitals to deal with COVID-related maladies was not a decision taken by the coronavirus, but a policy decision made by humans. Although the NIH does want to acknowledge it was a policy decision, NIH at least acknowledges that there is still a backlog in health services from the pandemic that we are still dealing with today (Pratt, 2024). In November 2022, I analyzed a study that showed that delaying preventative screening resulted in missing one million cancer screenings in Europe. There is no doubt that the delayed procedures and screening have resulted in a backlog that continues across healthcare systems in multiple countries to this day.
Lockdowns exacerbated obesity rates. There was definitely an issue with obesity prior to the pandemic. However, obesity rates worldwide increased considerably (Nour and Atlinas, 2023), including the United States. With people stuck at home, many people changed their daily habits for the worst, whether that is less physical activity, worse dietary practices, or more sedentary activities (e.g., watching Netflix). That does not count the COVID-induced stress. Another study from the WHO confirmed this trend for children in Europe. The data from the United States indicates that those obesity rates have not declined since the pandemic, which is intuitive since it is not easy to shed those negative habits once started. Given the numerous negative health effects of obesity, this high obesity rate continues to put strain on healthcare systems all over the world.
High substance abuse rates persist. Back in May 2020, I expressed concern about how the lockdowns were going to cause mental health issues. Sadly, I was right. To deal with the stress of the pandemic (including the lockdowns and the job losses incurred), 13 percent of Americans went to substances to try to ease their woes. A 2024 study from the University of South California found that the pandemic-era increase in alcohol use persists. A similar phenomenon happened with opioid usage, one that is prevalent enough where Trump used it as a pretext to start a trade war. Given that it is difficult to end substance abuse or addiction, it is understandable that high substance use rates would still be with us even after the stress of the pandemic is behind us.
There unfortunately is less trust in public health institutions. Americans trust their doctors less than they did pre-pandemic. There is also more skepticism about non-COVID vaccines because of all the hullabaloo of trying to force people to take vaccines. With greater skepticism, there are now measles outbreaks. Measles vaccines are effective. Measles outbreaks should be a thing of the past, but that becomes more difficult when the mistrust with the COVID vaccines spills over into all vaccines. With all the half-truths, faux pas, and recommendations not based in science coming from Dr. Anthony Fauci, former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, and the Biden administration about COVID, it is clear why, at least in a U.S. context, there is less trust when public health officials politicize a pandemic.
Don't you worry! I have more to cover in Part II.
No comments:
Post a Comment