I think I have been stuck at home too long and am getting cynical, and feel a need to vent, or at least ask some questions about a few things I call Coronavirus Incongruities.
First, this virus is definitely a real and nasty bug and has caused a huge amount of suffering. Hardest hit in particular have been the very old, those in nursing homes and those with serious preexisting health conditions.
But……..When the COVID outbreak began to get serious in March the forecasts at that time predicted over 2 million deaths in the US alone and the hyperventilating of the news media frightened many people into thinking that we would be experiencing a modern day version of the Bubonic Plague with people literally dropping dead in the streets. It is now obvious that these models from the Imperial College in the UK were wildly inaccurate. Neil Ferguson, the British academic that created this model, also recently resigned his position in disgrace per the National Review for violating his own rules:
With all of his influence, it’s not surprising British media are making a great deal about Ferguson being forced to resign from the government’s virus advisory board yesterday after revelations he had violated lockdown rules he had championed in order to conduct an affair with a married woman.
Because of these inaccurate models government public health authorities recommended draconian measures to combat the virus. But, as a lay observer watching these events unfold, I have seen a lot of things that seem incongruous, which is a fancy way of saying that they do not make sense to me….they don’t add up. Do they make sense to you?
For example:
- Thousands of people “congregate” at Lowes, Home Depot and supermarkets
- But they say it’s not safe to “congregate” at Church or the Synagogue??
- People aren’t getting infected at Costco, Lowes, Home Depot, Kroger, Safeway and other big stores deemed “essential”
- But they say the virus will spread if we open little businesses that have been deemed “nonessential”, like your barber, nail salon, florist, French bakery, etc.
- Millions of private industry workers are out of work and on unemployment
- But government bureaucrats keep getting paid??
- They say they need more testing
- But if I test negative today I could be positive tomorrow. What’s the point??
- Convicted felons are released from prison to protect them from the virus
- But hardworking Americans like Shelley Luther get put in prision because are trying feed their families??
- McDonald’s stopped selling ice cream cones and cookies “because of COVID”
- But they still sell burgers and egg McMuffins. They have to touch both, and we eat both, so what’s the difference?!
- They want us to “maintain separation” in stores
- Yet supermarkets such as Safeway are funneling all entering and exiting customers through one doorway. How can that be “social distancing”?
- They told us in March to “shelter in place” to “flatten the curve” and prevent the swamping of hospitals with patients.
- The hospitals were not overrun with patients. Many field hospitals and US Navy hospital ships were barely if at all utilized. Now they say we must keep shut down to prevent a rebound of infections. They keep moving the goal posts.
- They call it “social” distancing
- But since we can’t socialize, isn’t it really “antisocial” distancing?!
Do any of these coronavirus incongruities make any sense to you?
All of this has made me want to play the blues.
