I got an email last week from a guy in Grand Rapids Michigan who started following me during the early days of COVID. He said that we need to keep speaking truth into the COVID mob.
I sighed and said, I suppose you're right. But I'm tired. Tired of the namecalling, the mockery, the shaming, the condescending self-righteous flamethrowing.
But the guy is right. We can't allow the arrogance and short-sightedness of the loud voice in the corner of the room to make us give up. Because you know who IS giving up right now? Restaurants, small businesses, and people who are killing themselves and overdosing. Some are closing their businesses. Others live in such media-induced fear that they are disturbed, depressed, anxious and dependent 24-7.
The facts continue to be: (courtesy of Imprimus - https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/sensible-compassionate-anti-covid-strategy/)
1. Fatality rate is .2%
2. More than twice as many children are dying from seasonal flu than COVID.
3. It hits elderly at 1000x the rate of the young.
4. The UN says 130 million people will die of starvation due to COVID
5. Doctors say more people than ever are being hurt or killed by medical care/vaccinations they stopped pursuing because they were COVID fearful of going to the doc, or told that the hospital cannot see them for preventive and routine care.
6. A June CDC survey says 25% of kids between 18-24 said they seriously considered suicide. If you read nothing else here, please read this one carefully. You may think prom and sports are silly, but it's not silly to them. A pediatrician I follow says the 2 pandemics in her world right now are obesity and anxiety.
7. The human spirit longs for socialization and connectedness. We cannot escape this truth. Lockdowns damage the human spirit. Telling the family they can't gather AND NOT LETTING THEM MAKE THEIR OWN DECISION on risking the health of dad and grandma is something I still can't find words to describe.
We talk about being compassionate. It's a wonderful aspiration. But our compassion right now is fully focused on a subset of the population. Doesn't mean it's easy or fun when someone dies. We have now all had someone we care about die where COVID was at least part of the story. But while it's easy to look at death numbers (and hard to escape them), it's harder to research the damage being done to the rest of society. But that doesn't mean it's not important.
You can simultaneously believe this virus is a bad one, and that we should not shut down our entire society. Sometimes bad things happen and it's nobody's fault. We learn this as we grow older and mature. Even when the loud voice in the corner of the room wants you to believe it's this person's fault, or that person's fault. The reason people hike hundreds of miles through the Mexican wilderness is that in America, we are free people and get to choose how much risk you want to take in living your life. Great thing here in the good old USA -- if you don't want to leave your home because you are scared of something...ANYTHING...you don't have to get in your car, go to the store, attend an outdoor football game, or go out to eat. We need herd immunity. A vaccine would be nice but it's not as essential.
In the last 48 hours I've heard COVID called "The Devil's Wind" and "The Ghost in the Room."
Both are perfect.
Because nobody has all the answers on where a virus goes or how it gets there. If we did, mask mandates, school closures, and business closings would have made a bigger impact by now..
If you want to do all that societal damage you'd better know for a FACT that your plan will work. Because the collateral damage is too great.
And right now, nobody really knows.