I read somewhere, probably on Twitter, that some pithy person said the coronavirus pandemic will end when the American people want it to end. In other words, when they stop worrying about it, stop changing how they live their lives based on the virus, and just go about their normal everyday business, the pandemic will effectively be over.
And it seems to me that we are halfway there. Quite a few people are rebelling against the latest wave of restrictions and shutdowns. Business in different cities are staying open despite closure orders. Millions are traveling for Thanksgiving. The Supreme Court just overturned New York Gov. Cuomo’s restrictions on churches, synagogues, and other places of worship.
“Pandemic fatigue” is becoming a common phrase to describe how people are unwilling to put up with more limitations, more interference, and more job losses.
Psychological Warfare
Maybe the pandemic is in our minds. Maybe COVID-19 isn’t any worse than a bad case of the flu, which sickens 10 to 45 million people per year, causes hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, and kills tens of thousands annually.
I’ve also heard it called the “scamdemic,” a ginned up crisis designed to take away our freedoms, trade our liberty for the appearance of safety, and increase the dependence on the government by people who were once proudly employed and self-sufficient. No doubt it will be used as part of the war against Christmas as well.
Hard to argue with that, either. This is the first illness in the history of our country in which the healthy are locked up. Quarantine usually applies to those who are sick or who have been exposed, not to those who remain healthy. Do we need to take that approach just because Chin did? Or is this some type of psychological warfare they are waging, designed to deplete our economy, sap our will, and turn us against each other?
Government and Media Panic
Every chart you look at shows cases ballooning. Every report on the media (including our weekly report) is full of records and rapidly rising numbers. But have you noticed that all this dire news isn’t really causing anyone outside of the government to panic?
Business are violating the rules to stay open. Many Americans are still eating out and going to the gym. The roads around here are far busier than they were during the spring shutdown. Underground parties and raves take place where masks and social distancing are not even considered. Plus, who has not gone into a store where people not wearing masks?
The people are tired of it. They did their part, the flattened the curve. Now they just want to go on with life, see their friends and family, attend a funeral or wedding, and maybe have a beer at their favorite watering hole. People want to go back to work. Businesses want to reopen. No one wants to lose their home of have their utilities shut off, but that is what January holds if we stay in lockdown.
And politicians who say one thing and do another aren’t helping. Research showing masks don’t cut transmission keep leaking out. And news that there is no “material difference in caseloads or fatality rates” when a lockdown was in place or not weakens the media’s case, no matter how many warning labels Twitter puts warnings on posts.
First it was Halloween
Can you believe some politicians are attributing the current rise of cases to Halloween parties? Wow, I must have missed my invitation, because I just don’t think there were that many Halloween parties. There in-person K-12 school, in-person college classes, in-person shopping and a general laissez-faire feeling about COVID-19 heading into Thanksgiving, but I don’t think we can blame the surge in cases this month on a bunch of kids in costume marching about the neighborhood getting candy tossed to them from a socially acceptable distance.
But they will use this as an excuse to stop Christmas celebrations, just like they used it to prohibit Thanksgiving dinners.
The Vaccine Cometh, Eventually
I think I’ve had only one or two flu shots in the past 20 years, but I can’t remember the last time I had the flu. I keep up my tetanus vaccination because I do work in the dirt and see an occasional rusty nail, but I pretty much ignore everything else.
My wife gets the flu shot every year. She’s had the shingles vaccine, too. And I’m OK with that; it’s her decision to make. She shakes her head when I decline the flu shot, but she doesn’t fuss at me.
I’m sure not going to be lining up to get a COVID-19 vaccine, at least not for the first year or two. I want to see what the side effects are, and I want to see more data than a clinical trial with 30,000 people. I want data from 30 million! Articles like this one point out that the recent results provide absolutely no information about safety and whether or not the drugs prevented hospitalizations or deaths.
I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the vaccine. I’m just saying that I don’t go around stuffing wild mushrooms in my moth unless I am absolutely certain they won’t harm me. Should I hold hold a vaccine I shoot into my body to lower standards?
I can definitely tell you that I am not going to take the Astra-Zeneca/Oxford University vaccine. Their reported results are much murkier than those form Pfizer and Moderna. I also would avoid vaccines from Russia or China, no matter how effective they are supposed to be.
Prepping and COVID-19
Does any of this mean you should stop prepping? Of course not! We recommend you prep regardless of whether COVID-19 is ravaging the country or not. It just makes good sense to be prepared, so have extra food on the shelf, and to be able to protect yourself and your loved ones if the government is unable to do so.
USA Today reports that due to the coronavirus pandemic, 15 million more people are “food insecure” this year than they were last year. Lines are building at food banks who are seeing a 60 percent or greater increase in demand. Whether it is a pandemic or a “scamdemic” the effects on society are caused by people in positions of power, not the disease, and they are very real. Keep prepping as if your life depended on it because one day it may.
If you enjoyed this post, we recommend November 23: COVID Crackdown Continues as Holiday Travel Builds
