Physician and medical professor Dr. Marc Siegel said he's "very happy" that the World Health Organization is recommending against using lockdowns to help contain the coronavirus pandemic moving forward.
During an appearance on Fox News Monday night, Siegel was asked about recent comments by the WHO's Dr. David Nabarro in which he said lockdowns aren't the only way to control the pandemic.
"The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganize, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we'd rather not do it," Nabarro said.
Siegel responded, "I'm very happy today to see Dr. Nabarro come out and say, 'Look, lockdowns can help a little bit as you regroup, or if your health coworkers are exhausted. But the cost is enormous and they should not be a primary strategy.
"Stick to your masking and your distancing. I'm so happy to see this turnaround."
The U.S. was one of several countries that largely shut down its economy earlier this year as the pandemic struck. Millions of people lost their jobs, many temporarily, as businesses and offices closed. Restaurants and other service industry jobs have been hit particularly hard.
Yelp reported last month that 60% of businesses that have closed since March 1 will not reopen.
"We know now and we're learning that the fear from COVID — that the damage, the side effects not from COVID but from the lockdowns — is worse potentially than COVID itself," Siegel said. "Hang in there. We're on it. I hope we can focus on the lockdown damage, not just on COVID."
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