Some 90 percent of Americans 65 and older have received at least one dose of the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine, as have nearly 70 percent of our fellow citizens 18 and over, but the fearsome Delta variant continues to be the pro-lockdown, pro-mask mandate crowd's favorite specter leading cities, states, and even the CDC to snap back to pre-vaccine guidance on masking.
As Townhall has covered extensively, the white-knuckled panic over the latest variant has spread from Los Angeles to New York thanks to fearmongering from President Biden, Dr. Fauci, and others who stated they would support a return to state lockdowns while they maintain travel restrictions on a host of countries (unless you arrive by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally). The President himself has made since-debunked or fact-checked claims that the Delta variant is more deadly than other strains and that vaccines will provide recipients 100 percent protection from Wuhan coronavirus.
Senator Rand Paul debunked the first claim that Delta is deadlier than other strains in another lively back-and-forth with Dr. Fauci, and CNN had to issue a fact-check of its own town hall with President Biden, clarifying that "the blanket promises in his first and third comments -- that vaccinated people are simply 'not going to be hospitalized,' 'not going to die' and, even with the very contagious Delta variant, 'not going to get Covid' -- were inaccurate."
Biden blunders aside, all three Wuhan coronavirus vaccines available in the U.S. under emergency use authorization have been shown to be effective against the Delta variant. And the most recently released weekly digest of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention proves that. For the week ending July 23, the 7-day moving average of new deaths was 223.
Mortality data from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics and the American Heart Association put the daily death averages — calculated by taking the latest available annual numbers and dividing by 365 — in perspective that ought to calm our panic-inciting "experts," lockdown- and mandate-prone officials, and their media allies.
For example, each day 2,380 Americans die from cardiovascular disease — 405 per day due to strokes alone. More than 1,680 Americans sadly lose their battle with cancer each day. 474 die from unintentional or accidental injuries. 332 die from Alzheimer's. 240 lives end due to complications from diabetes.
One life lost to a virus that even the World Health Organization now admits may have come from a Chinese lab is too many, and the more than 600,000 Americans who have so far lost their lives to the Wuhan coronavirus deserve a full inquiry into its origins. But the 7-day moving average for last week is a significant decrease from our peak month of January 2021 that saw an average of more than 3,000 deaths per day — and a testament to the vaccines developed through Operation Warp Speed that was started by the Trump administration just over 14 months ago in May 2020.
This average daily death rate of 223 — even as the Delta variant accounts for more than 80 percent of new positive cases according to the CDC's most recent data — is lower than a lot of other causes of death in our country.
Yet our country's public health ruling class doesn't mandate a certain amount of daily physical activity in areas where cardiovascular disease is spiking. We aren't required to get cancer screenings in order to fully participate in society. Helmet-wearing while bike riding or rollerblading to prevent accidents isn't a requirement enforced with a threat of fines or lifetime bans from public trails. And it's good that we don't.
Taking personal responsibility and making risk assessments are things Americans do every day as active members of a free society. Choices on what food to eat, activities to do, and precautions to take are left up to people who face things deadlier each day than the Wuhan coronavirus and its variants now are. Yet the COVID threat is still treated as a far greater existential threat even as the vaccines are doing their job and exceedingly more Americans have less to worry about.