Earlier this week, Fox News’ Brit Hume suggested it’s time we consider lockdown policy as possibly being “a colossal public policy calamity.”
Speaking to Shannon Bream on Fox airwaves Tuesday night, Hume discussed the disastrous side effects of stay-at-home orders adopted by nearly every state in the union, highlighting the irreparable harm done to the folks’ livelihood and savings, and the social toll the isolation has caused, particularly for children, who are at extremely low risk for novel coronavirus.
To boot, emphasized Hume, it’s unclear how effective lockdown policies have actually been, especially when compared to other, more sustainable mitigation strategies.
“I think it’s time to consider the possibility, Shannon, that this lockdown – as opposed to the more moderate mitigation efforts – is a colossal public policy calamity,” Hume said, according to Fox News. “That the damage to the economy, businesses that I see, businesses are closing. Many may not reopen. Those jobs will be lost. Those businesses will be lost. Those incomes will be lost.”
“Plus, the effect on children who don’t have their normal life,” he continued. “They don’t have school. They can’t play with their friends, even outdoors. All these things are accumulating. They’re not going to get better, Shannon. They’re going to get worse with time. And, as I say, we may not recover from many of these losses for a very long time if ever.”
Hume argued that America needs to move forward with sustainable mitigation factors. “What they’re talking about is moving forward, ending the lockdown, allowing people to continue to take the measures of avoiding crowds, washing your hands a lot, social distancing wherever possible — you can do that in offices, you can stagger the way people come to work. Some people stay home some days. Some people come in. There’s an awful lot that could be done. Wearing masks when indoors, particularly in stores and so on.” he said, adding, “Those things are all reasonable precautions and it seems to me we have the experience of suggesting that they work.”
Protesters have a real gripe when it comes to “draconian lockdown” measures, Hume said, noting that it’s frustrating some of the protesters were “not observing social distancing and, in many cases, not wearing masks. But, that aside: these protesters have a just cause.”
COVID-19 is “a major health challenge,” he said. “It is a major health crisis. It is also now a major economic and financial crisis.”
Unemployment claims released from the Department of Labor on Thursday ticked up 4.4 million Americans, tallying up to over 26 million people out of work as the result of our policy response to coronavirus.
“The number of weekly claims is a rough, rolling indicator of the severe economic toll lockdowns and the coronavirus is taking on the United States,” The Daily Wire reported, noting, “Gallup released a poll on Wednesday that found Americans’ fear of losing their jobs in the next 12 months had hit the highest mark on record dating back to 1975. A quarter of U.S. adults responded to Gallup’s survey, taken between April 1-14, that they thought they would lose their job in the next year.”
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