Zhou Fang’s contribution to the Discussion of ‘Some statistical aspects of the Covid-19 response’ by Wood et al.

The authors identify important shortcomings in the statistical work around the COVID-19 pandemic.However, there are large uncertainties.For example, intense global discussion of lockdowns preceded their UK legal enactment (e.g.Google 2020), allowing causally related effects before 23 March, even in countries without government response.UK public transport use already sharply declined a week before, and bus usage in Stockholm declined earlier than in London (Jenelius and Cebecauer 2020, UK Government 2025).Comparisons of Scandinavian countries, which may facilitate a more valid comparison than UK vs Sweden, could find no clear economic benefit from Sweden's approach to the pandemic (Blytt et al 2022).Thus, a full accounting of what a lockdown actually means in terms of changes in behaviour and transmission, and short-and long-term economic impact is significantly more complex than the paper presents.