“You better put on your mask or you’ll catch COVID and die!”
This wasn’t said to me in jest, nor was it said to me indoors. This is what a grown woman told me while I was on a sidewalk in Massachusetts. The saddest part is that the woman clearly believed what she said.
Never mind the fact that COVID doesn’t spread very much outside, and never mind the fact that my age group is exceptionally unlikely to die from COVID. Heck, statistically speaking, it is probably more likely that a car might have jumped the curb and hit me.
Later that day, I witnessed a person walking alone on a desolate beach while wearing a face mask. Perhaps he thought he might catch COVID from a pelican?
Perhaps the worst side effect of COVID-19 is the total abandonment of logic and reason by many, many people in our nation. And simultaneously, those same people behave with an insane level of condescension while doling out their lessons.
I’ve been to 18 states since June and I’ve seen an endless variety of rules created in response to the virus. Many politicians and folks in the service industry adhere to these rules as if lives depended on it. But these rules vary by the city, by the state, and by the week. Is there any data showing that the policies in one city are more effective than those in another city? Not that I’ve seen.
If we truly are in such danger, blind adherence to the rules-of-the-week doesn’t seem very sensible. Instead, we should look at the variety of approaches to the pandemic and study which worked, and which didn’t. Of course, that would mean acknowledging that Sweden hasn’t collapsed despite refusing to lock down. It might also mean discussing Denmark, which hasn’t exactly embraced masks. And it might also mean discussing the unintended consequences of our COVID rules.
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The CDC has already noted significant increases in hypertension, strokes and diabetes. How many Americans will experience severe medical issues because they’re skipping screenings for cancer and other diseases, out of fear of contracting COVID at the doctor’s office?
How many doctors and nurses will fall ill because they no longer have a sufficient quantity of masks to change theirs throughout the day? Perhaps they could’ve borrowed one from that kook on the beach.
And how quickly will formerly pro-vaccine leftists echo the arguments made by renowned medical expert Jenny McCarthy? The mainstream media -- and their allies in politics -- are terrified of a vaccine being released before the election. And they’re willing to put politics before human lives in an effort to stoke fear of these drugs. In their eyes, the only thing more dangerous than COVID is four more years of a Trump presidency.
The New York Times has already begun a smear campaign. Last week, their headline ran, “Vaccine Makers Keep Safety Details Quiet, Alarming Scientists.” You had to read five paragraphs of this clickbait story before the Times confessed that “It’s standard for drug companies to withhold details of clinical trials until after they are completed.”
Personally, I’m excited about COVID vaccines. So excited, in fact, that I signed up for trials and received either the Moderna vaccine or a placebo. Based on the mild side effects I experienced after my booster dose, I’m confident I received the vaccine.
Perhaps some of the Covidiots who are so terrified of the virus and so willing to shout face-mask instructions should take a break from their condescension and join me in volunteering to help protect our society.
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