The Los Angeles Times was slammed Wednesday over a business column claiming coronavirus lockdowns saved lives without harming the economy.
The column, titled “The evidence is clear — COVID lockdowns saved lives without harming economies,” cited published data and concluded “lockdowns played a significant role in reducing infection rates” and “had a very modest role in producing economic damage.”
In the article, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Michael Hiltzik criticized red-state governors like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for opposing lockdowns. He also suggested that California’s stringent lockdowns are the reason why the state now “boasts among the lowest case, hospitalization and death rates in the nation, as well as a recovering economy.”
“Numerous studies from across the world have found that lockdowns succeeded in suppressing transmission rates,” Hiltzik wrote. “An Italian team found that lockdowns start to reduce the number of COVID infections about 10 days after they start, and keep reducing the case rate for as long as 20 days following initiation.”
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Hiltzik explained that lockdowns didn’t cause economies to crash and businesses to close, but rather fear of the coronavirus did, and the economic devastation would have happened anyway.
“Foot traffic fell by about 60% during the pandemic, Goolsbee and Syverson concluded from their study of smartphone mobility statistics,” Hiltzik wrote. “But government orders accounted for only seven percentage points of that. In short, it wasn’t government policy that kept people home. It was fear.”
The article was widely panned on social media, including by author Carol Roth, who pointed out the devastating impact lockdowns had on small businesses.
“This is ridiculously cruel,” Roth tweeted. “By June 2020, 400,000 #smallbiz were permanently shuttered-more today. 37% of #smallbiz in @Alignable survey can’t pay May rent. We have 8+ million fewer jobs filled than in 2/20. But hey, big companies got bigger & more powerful at smallbiz’s expense!”
This is ridiculously cruel. By June 2020, 400,000 #smallbiz were permanently shuttered-more today. 37% of #smallbiz in @Alignable survey can’t pay May rent. We have 8+ million fewer jobs filled than in 2/20. But hey, big companies got bigger & more powerful at smallbiz’s expense!
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) May 19, 2021
“A liberal fairytale,” Mediaite senior columnist John Ziegler said in response to the article. “There is no evidence we saved large numbers of lives (of people who didn’t have long to live). Florida & Georgia proved this. The economy HAS been greatly harmed, we just printed a band-aid. The consequences of a year without school are devastating.”
A liberal fairytale…
-There is no evidence we saved large numbers of lives (of people who didn’t have long to live). Florida & Georgia proved this.
-The economy HAS been greatly harmed, we just printed a band-aid.
-The consequences of a year without school are devastating.
— John Ziegler (@Zigmanfreud) May 19, 2021
“60% of business closures due to the coronavirus pandemic are now permanent according to the WSJ & CNBC,” radio host Kenny Webster tweeted. “WTF is the LATimes talking about.”
60% of business closures due to the coronavirus pandemic are now permanent according to the WSJ & CNBC. WTF is the LATimes talking about https://t.co/NNnYQuQguP
— Kenny Webster ? (@KenWebsterII) May 20, 2021
“Opinions pieces are just that, but this might be one of the poorest arguments you’ll ever read,” the Hill columnist Joe Concha tweeted.
Opinions pieces are just that, but this might be one of the poorest arguments you’ll ever read. https://t.co/omReoFO3r7
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) May 20, 2021
Several contradictory studies, including research from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and a study published by the European Journal of Clinical Investigation, have concluded that lockdowns did not play a major role in slowing the virus.
Additionally, coronavirus lockdowns have been linked to an increase in depression, suicides, and drug overdoses. Children were especially affected by the increased depression, sometimes leading to suicide, brought on, in part, by coronavirus lockdowns.
The national unemployment rate was 6.1% last month, and the economy fell well short of expectations, adding only 266,000 jobs compared to the million that analysts were hoping for.
In February, 3 out of 10 small businesses, which amounts to 9 million storefronts, responded to a survey and said they didn’t believe they would survive the coronavirus pandemic.
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Nearly 28% of New York small businesses were forced to close in 2020 as a result of coronavirus restrictions. That number was 31.2% in the neighboring state of New Jersey. Nationwide, 28% of small businesses were forced by government restrictions to close their doors.
The Los Angeles Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
