Chris von Csefalvay

Have the protests proved that Covid-19 risks are being vastly exaggerated?

By now, we ought to be seeing some evidence of increasing Covid-19 cases from the mass protests. The fact we are not raises very serious doubts about the coronavirus lockdowns and other non-pharmaceutical interventions, many of which are still ongoing.

One explanatory hypothesis is the weather – that outdoor protests in warmish weather might have decreased the infectious potential of Sars-CoV-2. This seems highly unlikely. Even if there is such an effect, it almost definitely doesn’t outweigh the close proximity of protesters to one another. Another explanatory hypothesis is that most protesters are relatively young, and therefore unlikely to fall ill but may asymptomatically transmit the virus. This could well be the case, but there is not yet enough data to support this hypothesis and I am not currently convinced this is the most compelling explanation. 

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The third explanatory hypothesis is that we have vastly overestimated certain risks from Covid-19, limiting fundamental civil liberties of law-abiding citizens and getting it wrong. It finally took unsanctioned mass protests to prove this point.

At this stage, I find the third explanation the most likely hypothesis. Novel pathogens are notoriously hard to predict and it’s better to be safe than sorry – so even in retrospect, a significantly different course of action from that of lockdown would have been ill-advised. 

However, the current situation has unveiled an utter lack of a solid public understanding of public health policy. By necessity, public health has the power to limit fundamental civil liberties in cases of emergency – this is regardless of the merits of the subject. What is extremely dangerous is when opinions – whether correct or sincerely held – influence the application of limits to those civil liberties. Or, to put it more bluntly: if it is in the interests of public health to ban mass gatherings, then they must be banned across the board – whether it’s Black Lives Matter, anti-lockdowners or the Monster Raving Loony party’s annual open-air congress.

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