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OPINION

Open (Save) America Now

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
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AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Our best chance at saving America is to open America. Now. 

Certainly, states like New York and New Jersey, must open at a slower pace than Minnesota and Iowa. But we must ground all decisions in reason and science—or politicians inebriated by power will gain more dominance by peddling fear.

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“Safer at home!” is chanted on social media by the Communist Party of China’s co-conspirator—the World Health Organization (WHO)—and many Americans are buying the lie—hook, line and sinker. 

Fear (the most irrational motivator) is causing Americans to relinquish the ability to think for themselves, or to face the genuine virus of communism—which today has three million people imprisoned in Chinese concentration camps. 

The good news is, [COVID-19] not as deadly as we might have thought,” Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, told The Hoover Institution last week. His antibody testing in Santa Clara County indicates that 50-to-85 times as many people have already had the infection than we originally thought. Death per capita due to COVID-19 may be much closer to seasonal influenza. 

Extreme social distancing—the Left’s latest “solution”—is not an infallible model for beating infectious disease. A meta-analysis from BMC Public Health, the second-largest open-access public health journal in the world, showed that there are generally only dubious-quality studies on social distancing in the workplace

Further, BMC Public Health analysis found only mild benefit from social distancing—and did not take into account the potential harms due to social distancing. Humans have needs that are unattainable in prolonged isolation, including: food, housing, medicine, and human socialization. Harms caused by unmet needs in social isolation could potentially negate its mild benefits. 

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Professor Yitzhak Ben Israel of Tel Aviv University plotted the coronavirus infection rates in Europe and the U.S. and found strong evidence that quarantines will be ineffective in combatting COVID-19. "Flattening the curve” via extended quarantines for people of all ages will only extend the economic pain and not reduce the ultimate death count, indicates Professor Ben Israel’s research.

Here are three reasons why we should open America now:

1 – To save lives and protect the vulnerable. We need to laugh again!

My grandmother is in the high-risk category and the inability to see her children and grandchildren or attend church is impacting her health. Older people don’t live by bread and water alone. Research indicates that they, especially, require social interaction to maintain proper cognitive function and overall health. 

Neuroscientist Dr. Robert Provine of the University of Maryland has studied the healing effects of laughter. Endorphins released through laughter are so powerful, they go beyond lifting the mood to opening arteries, reducing cholesterol plaque buildup and inflammation, and increasing blood flow. Dr. Provine also found that over 80 percent of the time, laughter is caused by natural human conversations – not from hearing jokes or comedians.

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum—former Director of Women’s Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital—has made statements backing up Dr. Provine’s research: “The component that makes laughing so powerful is that social connection. If you are in a room by yourself or with others who are self-inducing laughs, does that have the same benefit as being in a room with people laughing spontaneously? The ‘together’ quality adds a whole other dimension.” 

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In 1964, journalist Norman Cousins received a diagnosis of collagen disease, with a one in 500 chance of survival. Cousins decided to experiment with laughter “medicine.” For months, he’d watch funny movies before bed. He made a full recovery and lived another 26 years. Although an anecdotal case, this case and other more robust research indicate laughter is powerful!

We are depriving our seniors of opportunities to socialize and laugh by locking them up in perpetuity – without any definite hope of full integration with other humans, including their children and grandchildren. 

Seniors also take more medications than younger people. Unfortunately, we rely on China for most of the drugs that help extend the lives of older Americans and improve the quality of life of those in pain. We have been dependent upon a communist-led country for our key medicines, long before the Communist Party of China released the SARS-CoV-2 into the general population. 

Meanwhile, Democrats like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Witmer don’t want us to have access to a drug (hydroxychloroquine) that even democrat lawmakers like Democrat Rep. Karen Whitsett of Detroit credit with saving her life. Why? Because President Trump has supported the use of hydroxychloroquine.

Is it worse for Grandma to prematurely die of a lonely heart—or to risk the chance that she may get a virus that may be fatal? According to the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkley, social interaction is especially important for extending the longevity of older individuals considered more “at-risk” to contracting COVID-19.

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Prominent researchers question the rationale of prolonged quarantines in all 50 states. Bio-statistician Professor Knut Wittkowski, who has done 35 years of research on herd immunity, has explained how crucial it is to keep youth in schools so older people can re-enter society. 

We must regain our freedom from the Communist Party of China by taking back our scientific independence. We can focus testing in ways that will guide treatment and reduce the spread of COVID-19; wear masks and socially distance ourselves around vulnerable populations like the elderly; and, meanwhile, get young people back in schools to develop more immunity for society’s overall protection.

2 - For our economy

Thanks to President Trump, our economy was at a historic high three months ago. Unprecedented numbers of Americans were employed, and historically low numbers were unemployed. The stock market was enjoying a bullish run. 

"Coronavirus is not a major threat... The American people should not be worried or frightened by this. It's a very, very low risk to the United States," so-called infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said in January during a radio interview and on Newsmax TV. Five days later, President Trump took a proactive course of action—and instituted a travel restriction. 

In February, Dr. Fauci told USA Today’s Editorial Board that Americans should understand that the threat from the coronavirus is “just minuscule” and the bigger threat is “influenza.” 

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Dr. Fauci’s preventative advice? “Wash your hands as frequently as you can. Stay away from crowded places where people are coughing and sneezing. If, in fact, you are coughing and sneezing, cover your mouth. You know, all the things that we say each year [emphasis added].”

“As the president fiddles, people are dying,” House Leader Nancy Pelosi told CNN in March despite the fact that the president acted far more quickly and took the virus more seriously than Democrats or pro-WHO advisors. 

Democrats know extending the shutdown is the only way to destroy President Trump’s economy. So, they minimize health, economic and social risks of perpetual hibernation at home. We must ignore the whims of power-hungry politicians and steadily return millions of Americans to work.

3 - To protect free speech and religious freedom

Snitching is actively being promoted by Left-leaning politicians in New York, California and New Jersey, to name a few. They’re making it as easy as snapping a photo and texting “evidence” to a hotline to turn friends and neighbors into the authorities. 

Peaceful protestors of the economic shutdown are receiving death threats and hate mail from fellow citizens who have been quickly brainwashed to believe that free speech spreads viruses.

We need to be open to allowing churches to open—at least gradually and with reasonable precautions. Many religious gathering places can safely accommodate far more than 10 people, and it would make sense for local governments to encourage churches to open. Perhaps gradually at first with proper social distancing, and eventually return to capacity after it is deemed safe. 

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Ultimately, the United States is an amazing country that must take back its economic independence and repent for its longstanding promulgation of subsidized death (abortion of innocent babies). We will save America by prayer, respect for life and by prudently and swiftly opening America. 

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