Experts predicted disaster when UK restrictions were lifted. Then COVID Cases Fell 40%

FEE’s Jon Miltimore on lifting of COVID restrictions in the UK and the surprising results.

“On Sunday July 18, people across the United Kingdom celebrated when the clock struck midnight. It was “freedom day,” Miltimore writes.

“With 87 percent of residents at least partially vaccinated, the government was lifting its remaining restrictions,” he continued. “No longer would mask wearing and social distancing be mandatory in England.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “We want people to take back their freedoms as they can today.”

Read the full article by @miltimore79 here ?https://t.co/NIveluFrVl

— FEE (@feeonline) August 11, 2021

But of course there were harsh skeptics.

Miltimore noted, “CNN described it as a ‘huge gamble,’ while Labour Party leader Keir Starmer criticized the move as ‘a reckless free-for-all.’ Neil Ferguson, professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, said it was ‘almost inevitable’ the decision would result in 100,000 daily cases and one thousand hospitalizations per day, despite the presence of vaccines.”

“The real question is do we get to double that – or even higher,” Ferguson told the BBC.

“To the naive mind that can conceive of order only as the product of deliberate arrangement, it may seem absurd that in complex conditions order, and adaptation to the unknown, can be achieved more effectively by decentralizing decisions.” ~ F. A. Hayek⁣ pic.twitter.com/5xt7G7PO36

— FEE (@feeonline) August 11, 2021

Miltimore writes, “When Freedom Day arrived, Reuters noted the occasion was marred by “soaring cases” and chaos. The AP had a strikingly similar take.”

BUT…

“Weeks later, however, we have an abundance of empirical evidence that show the prognosticators were once again wrong,” Miltimore said. “Cases did not double or quadruple as Ferguson had predicted. Nor did cases ‘surge,’ as many had warned.”

“On the contrary, cases fell—a lot,” he added.

Read the entire story here.

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