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Are the coronavirus lockdowns working?
By Kent R. Kroeger (May 5, 2020)
Note: In this article I use the terms ‘lockdown’ and ‘stay-at-home’ orders interchangeably.
There is a lot of partisan noise in the news coverage of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“This isn’t about science, this is about control,” Fox News host Laura Ingraham recently told her audience as she questioned the motives of those who believe the U.S. must continue to lockdown until the COVID-19 pandemic is more under control.
Meanwhile, on MSNBC, Chris Hayes was calling the hosts at Fox News “coronavirus truthers” for giving airtime to two California urgent care doctors who believe we no longer need statewide lockdowns, suggesting the cable new network’s coordinated push to “get Americans back to work” was not based on science but on ideology and blind greed.
The “lockdown” is the ideological pivot point for the current U.S. political discourse on the COVID-19 pandemic.
In dispute are three fundamental issues:
(1) What is the actual morbidity (infection) rate of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)?
(2) What is the actual mortality rate of the COVID-19?
(3) How effective have the statewide locksdowns been in containing and suppressing COVID-19?
