Weak Evidence for Strong Pandemic Interventions. A 2019 WHO Warning for the Current COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract

Social distancing. Travel bans. Confinement. The purpose of this research note is to document that more than 50% of the world population are affected by WHO (World Health Organization) recommendations for the 2020 coronavirus crisis for whose effectiveness the WHO admits that the evidence quality is low or very low. This self-contradiction is confirmed by a WHO document published in October 2019 as well as supporting documentation from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The research note concludes that an obvious resolution of this self-contradiction would be to limit restrictions to those for whose effectiveness the WHO’s document reported that there was at least moderate evidence.

Keywords: COVID-19, coronavirus, pandemic, evidence, non-pharmaceutical interventions

JEL Classification: I1