Thread by @CecPhil

#Covid. New Zealand growth in Q2 2021 confirms the #ZeroCovid strategy outperforms the mitigation strategy of the G10 countries: 44 times less deaths, pre-crisis GDP exceeded, mobility and daily freedoms better preserved. [1/7]

@iem_molinari & @TheWHN analyse the value of #Covid strategies. The study compares the G10 countries that have opted for a mitigation strategy with three OECD countries that have applied #ZeroCovid (🇳🇿🇦🇺) or a similar strategy (South Korea) [2/7]
institutmolinari.org/2021/09/21/the…

#ZeroCovid is a cost-effective economic investment : In the 2nd quarter of 2021, the GDP of the Zero Covid countries grew compared to the 4th quarter of 2019 (+1.7%). In the G10 countries that did not eradicate the virus, decline remained significant (-1%). [3/7]⤵️

In the second quarter of 2021, none of the G10 countries had recovered their pre-crisis quarterly GDP levels, with the exception of the United States, while Australia, New Zealand and South Korea had done so. [4/7]⤵️

#ZeroCovid strategy costs less in terms of civil liberties. The StringencyIndex indicates a clear advantage for the Zero Covid countries. Australia, South Korea & New Zealand have had a restriction level 4 points lower than the G10 countries over the last year-and-a-half [5/7]⤵️

Contrary to narratives that sometimes portray #ZeroCovid as an austere approach, Stringency Index data show that this strategy protects the freedom to go to school or to work, to take public transport and to leave home while reducing obligations to wear a mask. [6/7]

#ZeroCovid strategy preserves everyday mobility more effectively. Mobility data show that workplace traffic in 2020 and 2021 fell by less in the countries applying the Zero Covid strategy (-10 %) than G10 countries applying a mitigation strategy (-26%)⤵️ [7/7]