The Great Barrington Declaration – “Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal”

by
Steve MacDonald

With over 10,000 signatures from health professionals and counting, the Great Barrington Declaration is beginning to make waves. The premise? That the political response to COVID is far more dangerous to healthy people than COVID19.

Related: This Constant State of Fear is a Bigger Threat to Public Health than COVID19

That those people should be allowed to return to normal life.

 

As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.

Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.

 

You can keep reading here, but the intro leads naturally to the conclusion. “Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.”

 

Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.

 

The document was drafted and published three days ago. Over 10,000 health professionals and 92,000 members of the general public have signed it since then.

The primary signers are listed with their qualifications. And you can sign it too. And you should after you read it. I did.

It’s time to let healthy people go back to living life and wound up and trigger loons to stop calling them murderers. For political ‘leaders’ to stop encouraging that behavior. And, where appropriate, to dial back the terror and police-state policies. To draw from the declaration one more time.

 

Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.

Fortunately, our understanding of the virus is growing. We know that vulnerability to death from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.

 

We have been labeled as deniers and fact-checked over similar claims, but we continue to stand by them and the research we have shared supporting them.

Politicians and partisans are destroying healthy people’s lives. That has to stop.

 

Author

  • Steve MacDonald

    Steve is a long-time New Hampshire resident, blogger, and a member of the Board of directors of The 603 Alliance. He is the owner of Grok Media LLC and the Managing Editor of GraniteGrok.com, a former board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, and a past contributor to the Franklin Center for Public Policy.

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