We must admit to having egg on our faces. Our prediction that the overhyped news coverage of COVID-19 would end after the election (no matter who won) is not happening. Not only is the media still going full-bore trying to scare everyone out of their minds, but the same power-crazed Democrat Governors are at it again, imposing business lockdowns, mask mandates, curfews, and quarantines. With vaccines from multiple manufacturers only days away from being distributed, and therapeutics proven to work, the renewed panic makes even less sense now than it did last spring.
This time we are armed with a measure of personal experience living with the panic which we didn’t have before. Thankfully, the majority of state Governors have learned well from the events of last spring and are taking a far more balanced and practical approach to dealing with COVID-19. They now know the destructive ramifications imposing severe restrictions can have in their states. Because of this, it is important not to assume the entire country is spiraling down the same vortex as are a few states on the lunatic fringe (New York, California, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, etc.). Just because the nonsensical rules imposed in those few states make all the headlines doesn’t mean it is a new normal or represents the majority.
Florida, the state where we live, is a perfect example. Despite the new national COVID-19 “emergency” and associated drastic measures the media would have you believe are required, the reality here in Florida is that life is largely unchanged. Looking objectively at our surroundings, everyday living is currently not that much different from how it was a year ago before COVID-19 was even here. In fact, apart from a portion of the population choosing to wear masks for their own personal reasons, you might not know there was a pandemic at all. And it’s not like Florida has a lower incidence of COVID-19 compared to other states. The Governor of Florida has simply chosen to objectively and rationally weigh all the variables for dealing with COVID-19 in his decision process. The ramification of a person getting sick from COVID-19, particularly someone in a low risk group, is not the primary (or only) factor in deciding what statewide preventative measures should be taken. This is a key lesson learned from this past spring; preventative measures taken too far can be more damaging to the health of the population than the disease itself.
This rational viewpoint is not shared in states like California where lockdown decisions are entirely based on arbitrary thresholds for new COVID-19 cases and/or positive tests. The Governor there assigns low value to, or ignores completely, the health side-effects of unemployment, small business failures, reduced accessibility to preventative care, and the psychological effects of being isolated at home for long periods. Governor Newsom’s decision process excludes these critical variables, or weights them inappropriately. It is a cowardly way to weasel out of a more intellectually informed decision that might “trigger” a negative emotional response in the media-terrorized portion of the populace. A more objective and reasoned approach is not even considered because of fear that it will be viewed as devaluing human suffering and favoring economics. In any important decision, willfully ignoring critical variables just because they are contentious is both careless and unintelligent. What is worse is when that uninformed decision is followed by a string of foolish acts or statements attempting to justify the poorly considered decision. This is exactly what we are seeing with leadership decisions regarding COVID-19 in ultra-liberal states.
An interesting thought experiment is to objectively consider how much COVID-19 the disease has impacted your life verses COVID-19 the panic. Even now, almost a year out from when the initial COVID-19 cases arrived in the US, only 4% of the population has been infected with the virus. That means 96% of us have not contracted the virus. Less than 0.08% of the population has died from the virus. These numerical facts are impossible for some people to fathom given what they read and hear in the news. The true reality is that nearly all of us remain physically unaffected from the disease itself. With multiple vaccines imminent, every one of them promising to be at least 90% effective, it is highly probable the vast majority of us will never get COVID-19. That is reality.
Despite these facts, the news media has painted an entirely different COVID-19 reality – one that is profitable for their purposes, but grossly exaggerated and mostly false. Sadly, a large percentage of the population lives in this false reality, which not only directly affects their everyday lives but the lives of those around them. People who know the facts and the true reality of how much COVID-19 has actually penetrated the population are being put in the absurd position of having to defend that truth as if it is somehow dangerous. Disagreements ensue (even among family members) with one side believing severe illness or death from COVID-19 is only 6 feet and a mask-less face away. The other side is incredulous seeing how detached their friend or relative is from reality.
It is safe to say that while just 4% of the population has been physically infected with COVID-19, at least 50% have been psychologically infected with COVID-19 phobia. More than that have been indirectly affected by the behavior of those who have been psychologically infected (mask rage, over-enforcing social distancing, no handshakes, no hugs, etc.). The news media knows full well that using absolute numbers instead of percentages to describe COVID-19 cases and deaths is far more effective at frightening people. They trick you into not seeing the forest through the trees. Those who do see the big picture get frustrated and angry because they know the decisions for lockdowns are specious. Panic originates from isolated and heart wrenching descriptions of the illness; not how virulent the virus is across the whole population. COVID-19 is not Ebola.
It is no wonder that tens of thousands of people have recently moved out of New York, California, New Jersey, and Michigan. These states are among those with the most onerous and ill-conceived COVID-19 restrictions. They are losing the ability to fund public services as a result of their taxpayers fleeing to less restrictive states. The worst-case scenario is in New York. New York City has made itself such an inhospitable place to live, it has essentially committed suicide. Should the US Senate fall into Democrat hands after the runoff elections in Georgia, all these states will beg for and receive bail out money from a Biden Administration, something they’ve been denied (properly so) under Trump. Fallout from incompetent and destructive decision making in those states will then impact all of us by way of a heavier federal tax burden and larger national debt.
When it comes to health and safety restrictions on businesses and personal freedoms, it is state and local leadership, not the federal government, that has the most direct effect on our daily life. Several of the governors who have and continue to impose unreasonable COVID-19 restrictions are up for reelection in less than two years. They include the Governors of New York, California, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. One thing COVID-19 has made brutally obvious is that when state leaders act out of fear and panic, whether they are genuinely terrified or are seeking to exploit an opportunity, the result is suboptimal at best and horrific at worst. Thankfully, these Governors are a minority and the poor conditions and overly restrictive rules in their states are not the norm across the country. While it may not seem that way when reading the news, or for the assailed people who live in those states, it is the truth.
So, we must formally revise our prediction about news coverage of the virus. Instead of election day being the turning point, we now predict it will be inauguration day (January 20th). Joe Biden will be hailed as a savior. The COVID-19 case and death numbers will miraculously drop like stones in the weeks following the inauguration. We again caution against believing any of the mainstream news narrative on COVID-19. Overwhelmingly, they continue to cram a tail of doom and disaster down our throats. They are dead wrong.
For a comprehensive and excellent history of how the COVID-19 news narrative unfolded, including all of the intentional misdirection and underreported facts, here is a superb timeline written by a good friend of ours. The Realities of the Trump Administration’s Response to COVID-19
One Response
Well done again!!!