Mark Edward John Woolhouse FRSE FMedSci OBE (born 1959) is professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the Usher Institute in the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviors that advises the government.
Now that the collateral damage from governmental mandates has been done, he's had time to review the facts, the forecasts, the science, and the outcomes:
"At the time I agreed with lockdown as a short-term emergency response because we couldn’t think of anything better to do," he confesses. It was a "panic measure."
"I believe history will say trying to control COVID-19 through lockdown was a monumental mistake on a global scale. The cure was worse than the disease. I suspect right now more people are being harmed by the collateral effects of lockdown than by Covid-19."
"This," says Woolhouse, "is why we need a broader range of people on the government advisory board SAGE [Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] with equal input from economists to assess the damage to incomes, jobs and livelihoods, educationalists to assess the damage to children and mental health specialists to assess levels of depression and anxiety especially among younger adults, as well as psychologists to assess the effects of not being able to go to the theatre or a football match."
"I would not dignify waiting for a vaccine with the term 'strategy.'"
