Friedberg admits he vastly overestimated lockdown effectiveness, predicting under 20,000 deaths and return to work by April 7.
“I was like, Oh, April 7, we'll be back to work. And I also had a bet going with you guys and I said, gonna have less than twenty thousand deaths in The US.”
Friedberg cites recent paper showing 40-60% of population has T-cell immunity to COVID from prior common cold exposure.
“And the reason is that they've had other coronaviruses through a common cold and they've developed this immune response.”
Friedberg argues COVID behavioral changes will persist like post-9/11 TSA security measures that remain twenty years later.
“We go sit in TSA lines and, you know, get our asses swabbed when we get on an airplane now, And that's still going on twenty years later.”
Friedberg compares COVID behavioral changes to post-9/11, arguing permanent shifts aren't driven by science but politics.
“It's all politics and social behavior. It has nothing to do with science. Like, after nine eleven, there were no more serious, like, terrorist attacks on The United States, but our fucking lives changed dramatically.”
Friedberg compares COVID response to post-9/11 changes, arguing behavioral shifts persist regardless of actual risk levels.
“It has nothing to do with science. Like, after nine eleven, there were no more serious, like, terrorist attacks on The United States, but our fucking lives changed dramatically.”
Friedberg states global malnutrition rose from 600 million to over 1 billion people since COVID.
“In the last two years since COVID, we've unfortunately seen a reversal in global malnutrition statistics. You know, we were at 600,000,000 people, living on less than 1,500 calories a day just before COVID.”