Just thought of this; if we didn't know the information on new cases of COVID-19, given the relatively low amount of deaths occurring now, would we feel a lot better about returning to normal? Here's my point - we don't keep a running ticker going, and then blared on the nightly news and front-page of every news website, of daily increases and decreases in the number of people who have cases of the flu, pneumonia, hepatitis, respiratory infections, etc - illnesses that are potential deadly for the same demographic of people that are vulnerable to COVID and which run their normal course through society every year. If we did, likely we all would have been masking up a long time ago out of fear. My argument is the only reason anyone feels fear about COVID right now is because of our myopic focus on it. If you look at almost any chart, either by state, or nationally, the number of people being hospitalized and/or dying from COVID have flattened out completely. Cases may still be spiking here and there and declining in other places, but the numbers of people being hospitalized or dying from it have leveled off completely. So again I ask, if we didn't know - would we care?
The last statistic I saw on colleges was that over 70,000 college students nationwide had tested positive for COVID but only 3 had been hospitalized. We have yet to see a single active professional athlete even have to be hospitalized for symptoms related to COVID-19...and yet they are cancelling and moving games because of this? Cam Newton had an asymptomatic case (by all accounts) of COVID and was forced to sit out of a game, maybe two. What for? So that his other teammates might not come down with what amounts to, at best, nothing and, at worst, an illness that resembles the flu in terms of severity for otherwise healthy people? Does anyone else feel like they are taking crazy pills?
Let's take the recent examples in the NFL. If the NFL did not tell the public that players and team personnel had tested positive COVID cases, we would literally not be able to tell the difference. Maybe a couple (?) of players might have missed one game due to sickness, but then would have been right back out there the next game. Cam Newton would be no worse for the wear at all, since his case was asymptomatic. Do you see what I'm getting at? Because we know about it - it's a thing...but that's literally the only reason. 42 people in the entire state of Illinois died yesterday, allegedly(*) of COVID. The state population of Illinois is almost 13 million. California has a population of almost 40 million people and on October 6th, 51 people in the entire state died of COVID. 42 and 51 aren't nothing and undoubtedly the families of those 93 people are mourning the loss of their loved ones, but the last time I checked, PUBLIC policy is about what is beneficial for the greatest amount of people. I don't have the numbers because we don't track them, but I would wager there are several other common illnesses that killed more than 93 people between Illinois and California in the last day or two. As I've stated many times here, 2.8 million people die every year in the US, which averages out to about 7,700 PER DAY. Every. Single. Day.
Let's stop this madness and stop allowing our government officials to decide for everyone what they think is best. They work for us and this country was founded on the basis of individual freedom. If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. If you want to stay home, stay home. But the choice...the choice should be ours.
No comments:
Post a Comment