Helen Raleigh of the Federalist ponders the potential impact of the Great Barrington Declaration.

Last week, the three leading scientists drafted and posted The Great Barrington Declaration, a public petition calling for an end to the lockdowns and returning life to its pre-pandemic norm, except for the most vulnerable segments of our population.

The authors of the Great Barrington Declaration said they were driven by their “grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies.” Since its release, more than 13,000 infectious disease epidemiologists, public health scientists, medical practitioners, and more than 180,000 members of the general public, have signed the petition.

There are three reasons the Great Barrington Declaration has generated so much enthusiastic support in such a short period.

First, three authors of the statement are among the leading epidemiologists in the world: Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine at Harvard University, a biostatistician, and epidemiologist; Dr. Sunetra Gupta, a professor at Oxford University, an epidemiologist with expertise in immunology, vaccine development, and mathematical modeling of infectious diseases; and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford University Medical School, a physician, epidemiologist, health economist, and public health policy expert focusing on infectious diseases and vulnerable populations.

Second, the Great Barrington Declaration reaffirmed what some experts and the general public have been saying for months about the downsides of lockdown policies. …

… The third reason the Great Barrington Declaration has gained such popular support from other medical experts and the general public is that it offers a “compassionate” way forward. It calls for replacing indiscriminate lockdown policies with “Focused Protection,” meaning focusing on protecting the most vulnerable. such as seniors. It offers some ideas such as regularly testing nursing home workers and delivering food and essentials to seniors who live at home.

While protecting the vulnerable, the Great Barrington Declaration suggests those who are at minimal risk “immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.” …