I’ve had more to say about Covid than the average person. I compile publicly available statistics and form my own analysis and conclusions from it. Going back to March, any reader will note that I’ve had my own evolution about Covid responses in the U.S. but also with some consistency, especially in how not to address a pandemic. I realize that a governor, a mayor, or a manager, most of them would all cite some heavy weight of responsibility on their conscience to consider the numbers that might die on their watch based on the decisions they make regarding the pandemic. They imply this as they intone on the latest lockdown or mandate. If they find this weight unbearable, I would take it off their shoulders so that they wouldn’t have to wring their hands every night. Based on the published science that I see and yet ignored by many heads of state in favor of the more sensational, or what they deem necessary to cover their a** from political fallout, this is what I would recommend today.
Let the young get Covid: Yes, I’ll say it again, let the young get Covid. While I may have been more cautious in the spring, the serious and fatal Covid complications among the young are miniscule and as of this past summer, we had the tools to mitigate most of them. If we had let the young get Covid then, we would have herd immunity now and it would be backed up by plunging data lines. In my first article on Covid, ‘Beyond Coronovirus I’, I asserted the sentiment, that politicians would impulsively shrink from any notion of death, even if it meant more casualties in the long run. Would that our coronavirus response was led by traditional military minds instead of politicians who are natural born cowards. A traditional military leader is trained to understand and embrace casualties – deaths, as an unfortunate but necessary cost of preserving a greater good later. That greater good includes saving the far greater number of innocent lives, freedoms, economic considerations, and last but not least, long term strategic interests of the sovereign state that they serve. Someone’s son or daughter will die for all of these while serving the in the military. To understand that a tiny minority of young might die for the purpose of bringing the Covid pandemic to a quicker and semi-final conclusion is not out of the question if we understand that just as many or more will die by artificially attempting to ‘control’ it, but what politician has the balls to make that call?
Support immunity initiatives: I, we, cannot yet precisely quantify just how important individual immunity development is against Covid, but we know it’s important in every other instance of pathogenic resistance. We know that over-use of antibiotics has created the emergence of ‘super bugs’. We know that even the widespread use of antibacterial washes has created stronger breakouts of infectious pathogens. We know that kids that play in the dirt have far better resistance to some sicknesses than kids kept in a clean bubble by mom and dad. So what have we done during the pandemic? Everyone is doused in hand sanitizer dozens of times a day, kept indoors and away from most of the billions of ordinary germs that they’d otherwise encounter. Meanwhile, Covid was long ago found to have negligible transmissibility from surfaces. There will be hell to pay, if and when we ever emerge from our bubble because most people’s immune system will be emaciated and not just to Covid. Furthermore, Zinc, Vitamin D and C have been documented to have a significant benefit to Covid resistance. There should have been and now should be massive campaigns to promote these low-cost measures. We know that Big Pharma is in it for the money but it’s an unmitigated disgrace that politicians are silent about these measures, even while they enact policies that directly act to degrade people’s immune health.
Sunlight: As an extension of the immunity boosts, being outdoors in the sun without masks should have been and now should be promoted. Fortunately, some percentage of people have done so on their own initiative, but this should have been strongly encouraged for mental health and for boosting immunity. Covid is virtually impossible to get in an open-air environment where contact with others is transient and yet, in some places, (predictably, areas where progressivism is more dominant) I’ll see far more people literally cowering from others while wearing masks. They have been ‘properly’ instilled with fear by their government.
Un-mandate masks at the government level: Return autonomy, freedom and personal responsibility to every individual. Many people, especially the elderly, will take that freedom and wear a mask anyway. Good for them. Other than clean N-95 masks, non-medical and cloth masks are worthless except for containing gross distribution of fine fluids from the mouth and nose – [Just stating science here], so why are we promoting false pretenses? Forced mask wearing emboldens people to go out even if they aren’t feeling well. That being said, there should still be a strategic objective to deliberately allow the younger people at least through middle aged to be infected while still protecting the elderly.
Still focus caution on the old and infirm: It is understood that those over 65 should probably still take some of the cautions I suggest relaxing. Ironically, that is not the disposition of some governors. Anyone under 50 with no serious chronic conditions should be living life normally should they choose. Those over 65 are already predisposed to exercise more caution as part of their normal lifestyle. You’ll rarely see them in a bar. Let the young hash out herd immunity and the old will be much safer, much sooner.
Freedom: Put the science out there and let people choose. If science really says that operating restaurants at 50% or with certain air filtering improvements is needed, say it. Let the restaurants decide if they’ll actually do it, let them inform the public, and let the public choose if they’re ok with that mitigation or not. Politicians should be flogged for their grab on civil liberties but my main point here is they have also unnecessarily elongated the pandemic as well.
These mutterings are not just reckless angst of a novice. The jurisdictions that actually put these into practice are thriving and healthier compared to lockdown states. Florida is an example to the rest of the country and other nations.