Rand Paul Says Coronavirus Lockdowns Were A ‘Big Mistake’

Rand Paul is a frequent critic of White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci, and on Wednesday, the senator called the current lockdowns nationwide a “big mistake” for what they have done to the American economy.

Paul told the “Fox News Rundown” podcast  that the lockdowns have caused enormous economic damage while at the same time did little to curtail COVID-19.

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Paul: ‘I see nothing to be admired in New York’s lockdown’

Sen. Paul noted that states that implemented lockdowns saw rising cases alongside states that didn’t impose lockdowns.

“We’ve seen surges in coronaviruses in the midst of lockdown,” Paul said. “New York had a lockdown and had 30,000 people die. New York had the worst death rate of any place in the world amid a lockdown, so perhaps a lockdown didn’t do any good and perhaps a lockdown killed our economy, but didn’t do anything to stem the tide of the virus.”

“So I see nothing to be admired in New York’s lockdown,” Paul added.

“I see a mountain of people who died, particularly in the nursing homes,” Paul continued. “I don’t think the lockdown did them any good. I think it killed the economy, but didn’t do any good for trying to contain the virus.”

The senator says individuals should be able to assess their own risk

Paul said individuals should be allowed to assess their own risk and proceed accordingly.

“We need to put it in context [that] under age 45, this disease [COVID-19] we’re looking at is less dangerous than the seasonal flu,” Paul said. “Above age 45, it’s more dangerous than the seasonal flu.”

“If you’re in your 80s and you’re in a nursing home, we need to do all kinds of things to try to protect you, but I don’t think that involves shutting down the economy,” the senator continued. “I think that involves other precautions.”

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Paul: ‘I think we’ve made a big mistake in the lockdown’

Paul said that tens of thousands of people undergo chemotherapy each year, “but we don’t tell the whole country to wear masks because you might give a virus to people who are in chemotherapy.”

“What we do is people on chemotherapy try to be very cautious, to stay away from children with infectious diseases or others who might transmit it, but we don’t shut the entire economy down, even though there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people with depressed immune systems,” Paul said.

“So I think we’ve made a big mistake in the lockdown,” the senator proclaimed. “We’ve crippled the economy, but I don’t know that we’ve done much to the virus.”