Skip to content
Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

COVID CURFEWS: ANOTHER FAILED POLICY

As with all other lockdown policies imposed by political leaders around the world, there is no verifiable scientific evidence that curfews significantly slow the spread of the coronavirus.
An article published by The New York Times on 23 January confirms this in a sub-headline that reads, “A restriction more often used in natural disasters, or to quell unrest, has never been tested against a pathogen like the virus.”
No Evidence Curfews Work
As the writer of the 23 January Times article points out, “The virus thrives indoors, and clusters of infection are common in families and in households. So, one daunting question is whether forcing people into these settings for longer periods slows transmission—or accelerates it.”
The Times quotes Maria Polyakova, an economist at Stanford University, who said, “In general, we expect that staying at home mechanically slows the pandemic, as it reduces the number of interactions between people.”
“The trade-off is that the reduction in economic activity especially hurts many workers and their families in the large service sector of the economy.” She questions, “So is the curfew worth the price?
Not understanding the lockdown logic, Dr. Polyakova states, “Assuming that nightclubs and such are already closed down anyway, for instance, prohibiting people from going for a walk around the block with their family at night is unlikely to reduce interactions.” 
Stay Home, Spread the Virus
The article goes on to confirm that stay-at-home orders accelerate the spread. In a study published in Science on 15 January titled “Transmission heterogeneities, kinetics, and controllability of SARS-CoV-2,” co-authored by epidemiologists and statisticians in both China and the U.S. and backed by over 60 links to medical and scientific resources, it states clearly and emphatically,
“The duration of exposure to an infected person combined with closeness and number of household contacts constituted the greatest risks for transmission, particularly when lockdown conditions prevailed. These findings could help in the design of infection control policies that have the potential to minimize both virus transmission and economic strain.”
Jon Zelner, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan, pulled the rug out from any defense of imposed curfews. He was quoted by The Times saying,
“With respect to curfews, I think that it is hard to understand what the positive impact of them is going to be… what I worry about with relatively vague or poorly reasoned orders is that it erodes the trust people need to have to follow these.”
TRENDPOST: Despite scientific evidence that curfews and lockdowns are counter-productive, many political leaders across the globe continue to impose them. 
They haven’t learned the clear lesson revealed in New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s botched orders last spring when he had to admit “shock” that his stay-at-home orders backfired and the majority of people entering hospitals with severe coronavirus reactions had been following his orders. (See our 28 July article, “STAY AT HOME, GET SICK.”)