Last week, I spent mostly unplugged from the news…and it was glorious.
However, I am heading into the fray again. And it seems I will be continuing to write about the Wuhan Coronavirus.
The Black Lives Matter protests, and the continuing civil unrest has not had the intended effect on Americans, so the press has returned to pushing its pandemic porn.
For example, I landed in California to find that my state had run out of luck:
Only a few weeks ago, thousands of Southern Californians were flocking to beaches, Disneyland was announcing it would soon reopen and Whoopi Goldberg was lauding Gov. Gavin Newsom on “The View” for the state’s progress in combating the coronavirus. The worst, many in California thought, was behind them.In fact, an alarming surge in cases up and down the state was only just beginning.Over the past week California’s case count has exploded, surpassing 200,000 known infections, and forcing Mr. Newsom to roll back the state’s reopening in some counties. On Monday, he said the number of people hospitalized in California had risen 43 percent over the past two weeks.Los Angeles County, which has been averaging more than 2,000 new cases each day, surpassed 100,000 total cases on Monday, with the virus actively infecting one in every 140 people, according to local health officials. More than 2,800 cases were announced in the county on Monday, the most of any day during the pandemic.
I would simply remind Newsom that 1-2 viral incubation periods have passed since the protests, demonstrations, and riots were allowed to proceed throughout California, including in nearby La Mesa. Bad choices usually lead to bad luck.
I am not the only one who has noticed the correlation.
I am sure the owners of the bars, restaurants and other small businesses (which were not destroyed by rioting) who followed the rules and maintained social distancing are now being punished because state and local officials failed to follow guidelines they established. I suspect that, like the beach-goers in Santa Cruz, Californians will ignore the next set of orders to the best of their ability.
Despite the press ginning up fear of the big, bad COVID, I would like to note that the evidence is becoming more apparent that the coronavirus is substantially less lethal than initially reported. It’s at 0.2% and likely lower, given the increasing number of asymptomatic people who have tested positive). Therefore, it is on-par with severe flu, and with the bulk of the deaths occurring in nursing homes, it is clear that the elderly and already ill people are more at risk.
Additionally, the treatment options for COVID-19 are being fined tuned (e.g., anti-inflammatories and innovative oxygen treatment), and the death rate for infection is dropping:
We have gone from a high of over 16,000 per week in April to under 1000 the week of June 20th. The trend is likely to continue downward. Furthermore, I would like to point out that some coroners and physicians are marking deaths of anyone with COVID as a coronavirus death, though an underlying condition might have been the actual cause.
In a nutshell, while testing shows many new cases, the consequences of infection have been substantially reduced.
Therefore, if governors and mayors refuse to contain demonstrators and rioters, then they should just reopen in full. In fact, by allowing the young and healthy to get the virus and recover, perhaps herd immunity can be achieved before a vaccine is produced.
Meanwhile, make it a point to tune out all the current media noise related to the coronavirus. While it is wise to take reasonable precautions and protect the vulnerable, exposing yourself to needless fear and stress can also be incredibly harmful.
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