The World Health Organization is reversing course from previous warnings to stay in lockdown and are now warning leaders against keeping lockdowns in place. In a video interview with the British Magazine The Spectator, Dr. David Nabarro of the WHO said, “We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus.” He went on to say, “The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganize, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we’d rather not do it.”
Nabarro also addressed potential the harm the restrictions can bring to the global economy and who is hit hardest by the lockdowns. Nabarro emphasized, “Lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer.” He also pointed to a foreseeable rise in poverty levels, “Look what’s happened to smallholder farmers all over the world. Look what’s happening to poverty levels. It seems that we may well have a doubling of world poverty by next year. We may well have at least a doubling of child malnutrition.”
The U-turn from the WHO comes at the same time many epidemiologists and public health scientists are calling for an end to the lockdowns. In a petition called the Great Barrington Declaration, doctors and scientists claim the lockdown policies worsen cardiovascular disease outcomes, lower childhood vaccination rates, produce fewer cancer screenings and deteriorate mental health. In accordance with the WHO’s latest comments, this petition also states “Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.”
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