Are lockdowns worth it?

Re: More deficit, more dead, Tristin Hopper, Feb. 10

About 300,000 people die in Canada every year — roughly 200,000 from illness and accidents and 100,000 from old age. Canada has lost more than 20,000 to COVID-19, which could rise to 40,000. Thus, on a oneevent basis, annual Canadian deaths will likely increase by 13 per cent due to COVID.

At 40,000 deaths, Canada's death rate is relatively low and benefits partially from tight regulations — lockdowns, school closures, mask wearing, safe spacing, etc. But how would the population behave without these regulatory restrictions? We are an intelligent and informed nation and without regulatory restrictions, the population would surely adopt its own individual protections that would act very much like the prescribed government regulations. The result? Perhaps an additional 20,000 would die because they did not take the care or effort to properly protect themselves and those in their communities. This begs the question — is shutting down the economy and killing thousands of businesses to protect those 20,000 (most of whom seem to care less) and adding $400 billion to the national debt really worthwhile when the cost is $20 million per avoided incremental death?

John P. A. Budreski, Vancouver