eugyppius: a plague chronicle

Share this post
A Brief History of Lockdowns: Part I
www.eugyppius.com

A Brief History of Lockdowns: Part I

As many of our countries contemplate another round of closures, a look at how we got here.

eugyppius
Nov 6, 2021
65
56
Share this post
A Brief History of Lockdowns: Part I
www.eugyppius.com

As my first weekend exclusive to subscribers, I offer you this long piece on the origins of lockdowns I wrote in the spring. Normally, important political items will be free, but a German version was published in March (at Sezession im Netz, introduced by my friend Martin Lichtmesz: see here, here, here and here), and for various reasons I want that to be the primary incarnation of this work on the internet. Because of its length, I’ll post the article in two parts. The second will follow tomorrow.


This image, credited to Agence France-Presse, purports to depict a spontaneous death in a Wuhan street from Corona. It was widely published in January 2020. Sudden deaths of this nature have never been observed anywhere else.

In February 2020, medical bureaucrats, journalists and politicians across the West were in agreement: Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, posed a minor threat. Corona alarmism was the province of internet conspiracy theorists and anonymous Twitter accounts. Then, beginning very precisely on 8 March, opinion shifted, and our leaders decided one after the other that Corona is among the greatest threats facing mankind. Why and how they reversed their views, is a question that has hardly been explored. It can’t be the changing science: Research does not accumulate in the space of days. Nor does new, direct experience with the virus seem a likely answer: Western outbreaks were in their infancy when this seismic realignment began.

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2022 eugyppius
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Publish on Substack Get the app
Substack is the home for great writing