Free States Faring Far Better Than Lockdown States in One Huge Way, New Data Show

The results are in—and they overwhelmingly vindicate the free states over the authoritarian experiments.

The results are in—and they overwhelmingly vindicate the free states over the authoritarian experiments. First, we saw that states with the harshest restrictions didn’t necessarily achieve the best COVID-19 death outcomes. Florida has fared far better than New York and New Jersey, for example, and multiple studies have found no correlation between lockdown stringency and death rates.

Yet lockdowns have come at an enormous economic and human cost. We’ve seen mental health problems and child suicide spikes, an increase in domestic violence, an uptick in drug overdoses, and much, much more. And, of course, the economic toll of shutting down businesses and criminalizing “non-essential” livelihoods has been devastating.

https://fee.org/articles/free-states-faring-far-better-than-lockdown-states-in-one-huge-way-new-data-show/