Varney: Social costs of coronavirus lockdown are high
‘It’s been obvious from the start: the lockdown costs lives’
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FOX Business’ Stuart Varney, in his latest “My Take,” argues while the coronavirus has its costs, so do lockdowns.
“Finally, an alert about the social costs of the lockdown. It’s about time,” Varney said. “It’s been obvious from the start: the lockdown costs lives. It certainly endangers your mental health.”
Varney noted over 500 doctors have signed a letter to President Trump calling for an end to the coronavirus lockdowns.
“It says keeping businesses closed and children home from school creates a ‘mass casualty incident’ with ‘exponentially growing health consequences,’” Varney said. “Tell it how it is!”
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A woman takes walk with a dog in front of the closing signs displayed in a store's window front in Niles, Ill., May 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Varney said Americans are avoiding hospitals and doctors, delaying checkups that could have detected cancer or heart problems.
“The doctors warn about alcohol abuse: that's understandable. You had a drinking problem before, you will be sorely tested when you're locked in the house for months!” Varney said. “The letter concludes, ‘the downstream health effects… are being massively underestimated and underreported.’”
The governor of New Jersey still says the state won’t reopen until there’s a vaccine, Varney noted, which is “at least months away.”
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Varney also said the school shut down in the U.S. has been a “catastrophe.”
“From March until at least August and probably longer, youngsters have been banned from the classroom. They're stuck in front of a screen at home perhaps getting help from parents who are struggling themselves,” he said. “Truth is for millions, there has been no educational progress at all. 2020 has been an education bust.”
This also hurts anxious and un-socialized children, Varney added.
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“By the way, The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity says children under 15 are six times more likely to die from the flu or pneumonia than COVID-19 and 128 times more likely to die in an accident!” he said.
Varney pointed to the front cover of Thursday’s The New York Post, which says, "The Big Apple is dying... its streets are empty. Tens of thousands have been plunged into poverty… it needs to end now."
“No wonder there are calls to open up,” Varney said.