{"id":4509,"date":"2026-07-29T22:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T22:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4509"},"modified":"2026-07-29T22:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T22:39:15","slug":"dr-fauci-the-lockdown-czar-just-wont-go-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4509","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Fauci, the Lockdown Czar, just won\u2019t go away"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Remember Dr. Fauci? He led the charge, along with others in the government-sponsored public health industrial complex that imposed COVID lockdowns on us and shut down the country in 2020.<\/p>\n

Read more Beyond the Covid origins: Fauci\u2019s pandemic diary reveals a starstruck Julia Roberts and Trump gasping for oxygen<\/a><\/p>\n

Contrary to his radio silence at today\u2019s hearings, one thing that screams with clarity is Fauci\u2019s diary. It\u2019s an open book. Dr. Fauci comes across as a \u201ckiss-up, kick-down\u201d kind of guy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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As a critic of lockdowns, I know firsthand how Dr. Fauci and the government-sponsored public health industrial complex operate. If you so much as question them, these Big Players can be ruthless.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the onset of COVID, I, along with Jonas Herby in Denmark and Lars Jonung in Sweden, engaged in a comprehensive scientific literature review and meta-analysis to determine whether lockdowns were, in fact, effective in reducing COVID-19 mortality. This was a heavy lift. We identified 19,646 potential studies. But, in the end, only 22 could be converted into standardized estimates suitable for a high-quality, rigorous meta-analysis.<\/p>\n

Contrary to the assertions by Dr. Fauci and proponents of lockdowns, our meta-analysis reached the conclusion that lockdowns had a tiny impact on COVID mortality. In addition to having a tiny impact on mortality, the lockdowns were accompanied by huge economic and social costs. Our meta-analysis estimated that lockdowns only saved between 6,000 and 23,000 lives in Europe and between 4,000 and 16,000 lives in the United States. When compared to a typical flu season, lockdowns prevented relatively few deaths. Indeed, in Europe, 72,000 flu deaths occur in a typical flu season, and in the United States, 38,000 flu deaths occur during a typical flu season. Based on the hard evidence contained in our meta-analysis, we concluded that COVID lockdowns were a major public policy blunder.<\/p>\n

Our findings were eventually published in two peer-reviewed publications: a book, , <\/em>which waspublished by the Institute of Economic Affairs in London, and a journal article, which appeared in Public Choice<\/em>. Never mind. Our research ignited the ire of the Big Players in the government-sponsored public health industrial complex.<\/p>\n

Read more Southeast Asia is \u2018hungry for innovation\u2019 and eager to leapfrog, says SAP\u2019s new APAC president Verena Siow<\/a><\/p>\n

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To counter the facts contained in our meta-analysis, the Big Players in officialdom and allied factions followed their standard operating procedure. In addition to outright censorship, which we repeatedly encountered at the Social Science Research Network (SSRN), an enormous academic platform operated by the Netherlands-based publishing house Elsevier, the \u201cfact-checkers\u201d piled on. These are the folks who produce unfounded, irrelevant verbiage that lacks a critical sense or analytical insight. Next came hit pieces that echoed the claims of the so-called fact-checkers. The perpetrators hoped that a cone of silence would descend on their targets.<\/p>\n

Where does this lead? It leads to what Nobelist Friedrich Hayek analyzes in Chapter XI of his classic, The Road to Serfdom<\/em>. That Chapter is aptly titled \u201cThe End of Truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of <\/em>Fortune.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Steve Hanke is a Senior Contributing Columnist at Fortune and a Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University. He is a co-author of <\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Inside China\u2019s two-speed economy: Why goods consumption is slumping even as exports and services boom<\/a><\/p>\n

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During the pandemic, two colleagues and I led a comprehensive scientific literature review and meta-analysis about lockdowns, but Fauci didn’t listen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[508],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pandemic"],"yoast_head":"\nDr. Fauci, the Lockdown Czar, just won\u2019t go away - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4509\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dr. Fauci, the Lockdown Czar, just won\u2019t go away - Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During the pandemic, two colleagues and I led a comprehensive scientific literature review and meta-analysis about lockdowns, but Fauci didn't listen.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4509\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-29T22:39:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4509#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4509\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\"},\"headline\":\"Dr. Fauci, the Lockdown Czar, just won\u2019t go away\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-29T22:39:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4509\"},\"wordCount\":572,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4509#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/d334d597b23438b71296cf24d045e464.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Pandemic\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4509#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4509\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4509\",\"name\":\"Dr. Fauci, the Lockdown Czar, just won\u2019t go away - 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