Thread by @CecPhil

Zero Covid countries such as 🇦🇺 continues to produce the best results, preserving public health, the economy or freedoms despite what great journalists such as @conor64 have come to believe theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
@CovidActionGrp @yaneerbaryam @DrEricDing @dgurdasani1

We could ask the same question about all Western Countries. Is France still a democracy? What about Sweden or the US? All countries have had to impose restrictions. The question remains who is doing best on all fronts: those who are eliminating

The Zero Covid strategy (ZCS) better protects health, as the number of deaths per million inhabitants was 44 times higher in the G10 countries than in the countries applying ZCS (🇦🇺🇳🇿) or similar (South Korea), which means 1.1 million too many deaths by June 30, 2021.

The ZCS benefits the economy, as after more than a year and a half into the crisis, as by 2021, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea had recovered their pre-crisis quarterly GDP levels, while none of the G10 countries with the exception of the United States, had done so.

The Zero Covid strategy preserves freedoms more effectively. The OECD countries applying Zero Covid or similar strategies have had a restriction level four points lower than the G10 countries over the last year and-a-half (52 versus 56 in the Stringency Index).

The ZCS preserves everyday mobility more effectively : traffic in “cafés, restaurants, hotels, non-food businesses, leisure & cultural activities” was ⤵️ by 17% in the second quarter of 2020. This was a much smaller ⤵️ than in the countries applying a mitigation strategy :⤵️36%

than in the countries applying a mitigation strategy (down 36%). One year later, the Zero Covid countries retain a significant advantage, with normal mobility in the second quarter of 2021 (+1%) compared to a 15% decline in the G10 countries not applying this strategy.

It is really good that governments question their current strategy. This is exactly what we hope for those pursuing a mitigation strategy. Any comparison should take the dynamics into account.

It should realize that elimination is not a simple endpoint strategy, meaning it failed if you have a few hundred cases in the country left. It shows to be a strategy that sustainably enables to regain control and normality while keeping damage low in the process.

Numbers come from our last studycomparing the G10 countries that have opted for a mitigation strategy with three OECD countries that have applied the Zero Covid strategy (Australia and New Zealand) or a similar strategy (South Korea).
institutmolinari.org/2021/08/19/44-…

@stephenjduckett @GANyborg @FLAHAULT @M_F_Schneider @Ecole_Oubliee @ShutiChiou @dedieu_stephane @NjbBari3 @DrZoeHyde @jljcolorado @AmandaKvalsvig @cgershen @GabrielScally @Meir_Rubin @TJRyan_77 @mayer_iras @Parents_Utd @BaryPradelski @OliuBarton