Thread by @cfishman

What did stay-at-home orders in the US and around the world do?

'I don’t think any human endeavor has ever saved so many lives in such a short period of time.'

From Solomon Hsiang, director of UC Berkeley’s Global Policy Laboratory, which studied the impact of covid lockdowns.

2/ It's easy to lose perspective.

Hsiang & his group published a study today in the journal Nature on the impact of stay-at-home orders in just 6 countries: US, China, S. Korea, Italy, France, Iran.

The conclusion: Policies in just those countries avoided 500 million cases.

3/ That also means — at this point — at least 25 million worldwide deaths avoided.

'There have been huge personal costs to staying home and canceling events,' said Hsiang, 'but the data show that each day made a profound difference.'

Story on the study:

sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/06/08/uc-…

4/ 'It’s as if the roof was about to fall in, but we caught it before it crushed everyone,' said Hsiang. '…By coming together, we did something as a society that nobody could have done alone and which has never been done before.'

Study itself is here:
nature.com/articles/s4158…

5/ What didn't happen is always hard to appreciate. Solomon Hsiang captured the power of stay-at-home orders vividly:

No human effort has ever saved so many lives in such a short period of time.

Another story about the study, and a 2nd one on Europe:
washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06…