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EDITORIAL: Coronavirus lockdowns are falling out of favor

Coronavirus cases are ticking upward in many areas, including Nevada, which will put more pressure on political leaders to reimpose lockdowns. That would be a mistake.

The United States saw new infections rise to more than 50,000 a day for five straight days last week before falling back to 44,000 on Sunday. Nevada’s average daily number of new positive tests has doubled since mid-September to 559. That’s well below the four-digit highs of late July, but a reversal after weeks of decline.

It’s worth noting that some of the higher national numbers may be attributable to increased testing. The United States has ramped up testing recently to almost 1 million a week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the number of identified cases of COVID-19 represents only about 10 percent of actual infections because the vast majority of those with mild or no symptoms don’t get tested.

What is becoming more evident, however, is that — even amid rising case counts — the lockdown approach has fallen out of favor with many public health experts. A new video from the World Health Organization advises against shutting down societies as a virus-fighting tactic. “The only time we believe a lockdown is justified,” said Dr. David Nabarro, WHO’s director-general, “is to buy you time to regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we’d rather not do it.”

Dr. Nabarro’s advice is in line with guidance from the Great Barrington Declaration, a document offered by three epidemiologists and signed by scores of others that recommends implementing safeguards for the senior population and those most at risk while encouraging others to live as normally as possible.

“Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health,” Dr. Martin Kulldorff of Harvard, Dr. Sunetra Gupta of Oxford and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford argue in the declaration. “The problem with the current strategy,” Dr. Bhattacharya told Reason magazine, “is it is absolutely deadly to the people who don’t face very much risk from COVID-19.”

In addition to the economic and health consequences of lockdowns, many experts are also beginning to question whether it’s feasible to expect the public to self-isolate for long periods. “Public health is about what’s also doable,” James Naismith, a British health researcher told The Wall Street Journal. “People are wary that public support for lockdowns could fragment.”

Gov. Steve Sisolak has relaxed some restrictions on gatherings to deal with the economic carnage of the virus. That was the right move. One-size-fits-all business shutdowns and yo-yo closings, reopenings and closings in the face of rising cases are a disaster for all involved.

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