The Reality Team has been arguing for over a year that lockdowns, mask mandates and other non-pharmaceutical measures
This fantastic chart, posted to Twitter by user KBirba on Tuesday, uses real data to show we were right all along.
LOCKDOWN VS FREEDOM. Here is one view showing the impact of government philosophies of non-pharmaceutical intervention on citizens and what is left behind. With these data there is no significant impact on mortality, but a vast (44%) difference in unemployment, left vs. right. photo.twitter.com/GDtSbtLSPH
— KBirb (@birb_k) May 4, 2021
“LOCKDOWN VS FREEDOM,” writes KBirr. “Here is one view showing the impact of government philosophies of non-pharmaceutical intervention on citizens and what is left behind. With these data, there is no significant effect on mortality, but there is a large (44%) difference in unemployment, left wing group vs. right wing group.”
The chart includes three key metrics: COVID deaths per 100,000 (By New York Times)Wallethub’s index restrictions and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment data – and combines them into a devastating blow to the Chicken Littles at Branch Covidian headquarters.
KBirb divides the four quadrants into more and less freedom, and higher and lower mortality. It then plots the unemployment rate in each state with a miniature, medium, or vast circle.
Of course, quadrant one, the one with the most deaths and the fewest freedoms, is the worst to be in. But it’s home to blue states like New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Michigan, and others. Massachusetts and Ohio, led by Republican governors who love some COVID restrictions, are also in this quadrant. Most of them, along with blue states with fewer deaths, have extremely high unemployment rates.
On the other hand, states with more freedom – also known as predominantly Republican states – generally have low unemployment rates and death rates do not appear to be statistically different.
Since people can’t stop politicizing the effects of Covid, here are the death rates for every US state. Republican governors are in red, Democrats are in blue.
The rates are almost identical. On average, 161 for Democratic states and 162 for non-Democratic states.
Can we stop gaslighting now? pic.twitter.com/XF8Iegreye
— Messenger (@ianmSC) May 4, 2021
In other words, the virus was always going to go viral, despite insane lockdowns, orders and restrictions that only served to further harm the people subjected to them. If any of these NPIs “worked”, a chart like the one above would be impossible to create because deaths would be consistently lower in places with high restrictions and vice versa.
Sometimes the photo says it all.
