The problem with the Royal Society’s report is that as far as I can see they don’t seem to have bothered to mention that the number of people killed by the lockdowns far, far exceeded the number of people who didn’t get the flu.
The lockdowns did massive physical and mental harm to the nation.
The Royal Society claims that lockdowns and social distancing rules were effective. And they claim that restricting visitors in care homes – and keeping residents apart – helped restrict the number of people catching the flu.
In my view, this is the sort of research that gives research a bad name.
LEST we forget. Over the summer, the Covid Inquiry will review evidence of the appalling conditions caused by restrictions imposed on the adult care sector, gathered from various organisations and charities, including Amnesty International and Age UK.
More than 50,000 residents died across the UK, and in March the Inquiry heard: ‘Each number represents the loss of a loved one, often in circumstances where they were not accompanied by family and friends saying goodbye at bedsides, but they died surrounded by PPE and by the imposition of visiting restrictions which prevented or inhibited them dying in the company and presence of those who loved them.’
Care home residents were treated so appallingly by the Conservative government during the pandemic years that Amnesty International issued a critical exposé with the title ‘As if Expendable’. They called for an independent public inquiry to investigate abuses that went unchecked in care homes during 2020, and by 2023, 30 families were suing the government for failing to protect their loved ones.
Loneliness, as the elderly were ‘protected’ from the outside world, proved fatal. Every family member and care home employee interviewed by Amnesty International expressed concern that the prolonged isolation of care home residents from their families and friends had devastating consequences.
