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"While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted. In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument."

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I think it is not possible to compress the essence of this very long paper into single sentence.

I recommend to read at least "5 Concluding observations" fully. There is much more nuance to it than can be expressed in a single sentence.

I would strongly recommend also "6 Appendix A. The role of timing".

My personal observation is that when countries managed to start restrictions (not full lockdowns but something that limited contacts) after first detectable infections then the death toll was greatly reduced.

There was huge difference for example between Greece and 2 other Mediterranean countries Italy and Spain. There is also similar difference between Sweden and other Scandinavian countries.

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