Rep. Tom McClintock about the damage caused by lockdowns

Congressman Tom McClintock: "We knew from the beginning that young people were virtually unaffected by this disease Covid-19). And we knew that the elderly were at extreme risk. So what did these lockdown leftists do? They closed the schools and forced infected patients into nursing homes. We knew from he beginning that obesity was a major contributing factor to the severity of the disease. And what did these leftists do? They closed the gyms and left the liquor stores open. We knew from the beginning that outdoor transmissions were very rare and that 80% of the infections occurred in people's homes. So what did these leftists do? They closed the parks and beaches and forced people into their homes. You know, Sweden never closed its schools, never closed its businesses, never required masks or vaccines. They trusted their citizens to make these decisions for themselves. The United States, unfortunately, imposed all of these mandates in the states controlled by the Democrats. And here's the result. The United States has suffered 3600 deaths per million from Covid. Sweden suffered 2600 deaths per million. So let me put it another way. If we had followed Sweden's policies and had Sweden's results, 340,000 more Americans would be alive today. And that doesn't include the millions additional excess deaths that these policies cause from suicides, drug and alcohol related deaths, deaths caused by delayed health screenings and deferred health treatments. It is heartbreaking and sickening to think about the butcher's bill from all of this folly...These policies didn't save lives, they cost lives, hundreds of thousands of lives. And the foolish people responsible for this carnage have yet to be held accountable. I understand why the don't want to answer for the decisions that they advocated, imposed, defended, enforced and still defend today. But it's time we acknowledged the damage that they did and take steps to assure that they can never do it again. Our constitution was supposed to protect us from such people, and this time it didn't."