Prof. Frances Lee says US media showed early skepticism on COVID lockdowns, but debate faded once talks of ending them began. #COVID
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00:00It's interesting when you said earlier that opinions seem to be very much in favour of
00:05lockdowns, ironically, especially in the USA, in a country where polarisation in opinion
00:10is quite common.
00:11So did opinions just fall in line, or were there a notable number of voices arguing against
00:16it?
00:18There were some initial sceptics in March and early April in opinion outlets.
00:30The polling showed that the measures were popular, but there were some sceptical voices
00:34early on.
00:39US reopening began to get started in the US.
00:46The lockdowns, of course, were not sustainable for the whole time period until a vaccine
00:51was available in any country.
00:53And in the US, those initial lockdowns lasted about a month in Republican states and a little
01:00over two months in Democratic states.
01:03So as there began to be some debate about reopening, you began to see in opinion outlets,
01:10as you say, it's the elite discourse that policymakers read, the news magazines, the
01:17newspapers, the editorials, just a shutting down of debate around the measures.