covid lockdown cost
© InProportion2
Weighed against the benefit of slowing the spread of coronavirus, a new study bolsters the argument of those claiming that when it comes to lockdowns, the cure may be worse than the disease itself.

The study conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and published in The Lancet puts a number to the human cost of lockdowns when it comes to children specifically and the results are grim: the deaths of 10,000 children per month, and severe malnutrition to another 550,000.

It's tragically ironic that some of the damage from the virus could've been averted had publications like The Lancet not published bogus studies attempting to discredit hydroxychloroquine that they were forced to retract.

As Unbiased America reports:
The leaders of four major international agencies — including UNICEF, the World Food Program, and the World Health Organization — are calling for restrictions to be eased. "By having schools closed, by having primary health care services disrupted, by having nutritional programs dysfunctional, we are also creating harm," said Victor Aguayo, the head of UNICEF's nutrition program.

And it's not just the effect of local shutdowns. Restrictions on retail and industry in one country can wreak havoc halfway around the world where parts and products are sourced from. Even low and middle income nations that ease their restrictions on industry still suffer because they have nowhere to sell their goods.

The rise in child deaths worldwide would reverse global progress for the first time in decades. Deaths of children younger than 5, most due to undernutrition, had declined steadily since 1980, to 5.3 million in 2018.

The Lancet paper blames the "increase in child malnutrition" on "steep declines in household incomes, changes in the availability and affordability of nutritious foods, and interruptions to health, nutrition, and social protection services."
The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that the pandemic will throw 140 million people into extreme poverty (less than $1.90/day) this year, and the number of people in poor and developing countries facing food insecurity will double to 265 million.

While the Lancet study doesn't provide a cost benefit analysis of the lockdowns, 10,000 deaths of children alone per month, 140 million falling into extreme poverty, and 132.5 million people becoming food insecure unquestionably reduces any net benefit of them... to put it mildly.