LESS IS MORE

A Fox News correspondent interviewed people on the streets of New York. He asked them about the DNC convention, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump. After watching this for about two seconds, I knew what they were going to say before they were asked any questions. It was amazingly simple. If you had someone walking outside, on the largely deserted streets of New York, not near anyone, wearing a face mask, they loved the DNC, they hated Donald Trump and they said they would probably vote for Biden. If the person wasn’t wearing a mask, because wearing a mask outdoors when you are not near anyone is stupid, they hated the DNC, laughed at Biden, and supported Trump.

I also notice that most of the masks were a joke. My favorite is the fancy expensive masks, with vent holes, that defeat the purpose of the mask. In a close second is the cute cloth mask someone has been wearing for weeks, proud to be protecting humankind from disease. In many cases when these people talk, you can see the mask move in and out. That, of course, is evidence the mask is not working.

Anyone who has done five minutes of real research knows this. Surgical masks, worn in hospitals do a great job of screening out particles. But they must be changed about once every 15 minutes. After that they become contaminated and do more harm than good.

Some has heard about the n95 masks or perhaps the kn95 masks. They sound great, until you realize they are never intended to be worn repeatedly. You should change them every time to go someplace new or if you touch the mask. I did some research and these types of masks cost at least $2, if you buy in bulk. So, if you go shopping and you visit five stores, you probably need about $10 in masks. For these to work, you need a huge supply. They will protect you, but only for a while. They don’t protect anyone else. And, by the way, you are making it harder and more expensive for people who need these kinds of masks to get them. That is why Saint Fauci said not to wear a mask in the first place.

No one pretends cloth masks work. It is simple, if you can breathe through the mask, it doesn’t work. There has never been a study, anywhere, anytime, that showed that asking the entire population to wear masks has any impact on the spread of disease. There is a reason for that. Real doctors already know this doesn’t work. When this first started, Saint Fauci said that masks don’t work. So did the surgeon general of the United States. The science didn’t change, the only thing that changed was political pressure. So now people, who know better, are using non-existent science to encourage people to do things they know don’t work. Washing your hands works. So, does keeping away from other people. Avoid large crowds, avoid touching things that may be contaminated. If you need a mask, you shouldn’t be there. If you are sick stay home. The mask is the illusion of protection.

Now we have a candidate for President of the United States who wants to require everyone in the country to wear a mask every time they go outdoors.  Here’s the good news. Most of the COVID 19 mask Nazis understand that this is stupid.  If you to a store, you will see most people wearing a mask, but when they get out of the store, they quickly whip it off. Anyone wearing a mask, while driving alone in their car, should be given a psyche exam. Most people walking their dog in your neighborhood are not wearing a mask. Avoid those who are because they are either stupid or mentally unstable. They are almost certain to vote for Joe Biden.

The biggest lie is that we all should be terrified of COVID 19. If you are over 65 and have underlying conditions, like a heart condition, there is reason for concern. But for most people COVID 19 doesn’t even make them very sick. There are exceptions. There are always exceptions. Most people love peanuts. Peanuts taste great and they are very safe. But, if you are allergic to peanuts, they can be deadly.  The solution to this is to train people who are allergic to peanuts to avoid them, it is not to stop selling peanuts. Everything has the potential to be a serious problem for somebody. But we can’t put everyone in a bubble trying to protect them from the world. That would just increase the risk for people allergic to bubbles.

History taught us this. Europeans have been getting contagious diseases for centuries. Sometimes these diseases killed a lot of people. But they did something else. People exposed to these diseases developed some level of immunity. Sometimes this prevented them even getting the disease. If they did get the disease, their bodies would recognize it and fight back. To most Europeans, measles is a two-week inconvenience. But American Indians, who were social distanced from the world, had never been exposed to the measles. When they got the measles, it could wipe out the entire tribe.

That begs the question. Was the solution to this to permanently isolate native Americans from the world? Some would say yes, but those would be people who despise civilization itself. Most of us grew up before there was a vaccine for measles. Our mothers knew what to do. When they learned about someone your age that had the measles, they would take you over to visit. They wanted you to get the measles. That is because they knew if you got the measles when you were eight, you didn’t have to worry about it when you were 38. But if you never had the measles as a child and you got them as an adult, that could be a serious problem.

Bingo. Those moms got it right. Sometimes, letting a disease spread among people who don’t get very sick protects everyone. You only isolate those people who are at high risk. The sooner the disease spreads among everyone else, the sooner it goes away. This has happened many times throughout world history. Even the worst plagues don’t last forever. Eventually, these diseases run out of potential victims and they die. We just need to distinguish between a disease that is extremely lethal and one that isn’t. Vaccinate against polio, but not necessarily every disease on the planet. If you are under age 40, COVID 19 is not very lethal. Over 99% of people in this age group recover with no long-term effects. If you are under 20, odds are very high you won’t even get sick. And guess what, if you don’t get very sick, you are unlikely to spread it. Oh, we have all seen the commercials where it says even if you aren’t sick you can spread it to grandma. That is true, if you are getting drunk at a pool party on spring break. Walking down the street, not breathing down other people’s necks, not so much. Even the loudest voices on TV preaching this nonsense know it is nonsense. That is why Chris Cuomo, who had tested positive for COVID 19 and claimed to have severe symptoms while hiding in his basement, was caught out in public without a mask. He then got into a screaming match with a neighbor who pointed this out.

I firmly believe that most of the things we have done to slow down or stop the spread of COVID 19 have made it worse. They have certainly destroyed our economy and ruined many small business owners. We should have isolated our nursing homes, reminded people to wash their hands and advised people to stay home if they are sick.  When someone did get COVID 19, we should have isolated them until they were no longer a risk. We did that with cruise ship passengers, and it worked brilliantly. But the truth is COVID 19 is contagious, it was always going to spread and that was going to continue until it ran out of victims.  A vaccine sounds great, until you realize it is impossible to really test these vaccines in a short period of time. For at least some people, the vaccine may be more dangerous than the disease. And sometimes we don’t learn the real side effects of something like a vaccine for years. That is why you see all those TV commercials featuring lawyers who are suing drug companies because of the alleged harm done by drugs previously considered safe.

Perhaps we can all learn from a headstone in the Boot Hill Cemetery, Tombstone Arizona:  “Here lies Lester Moore. Four slugs from a 44, no Les, no more.” No one knows who is buried there. There is no record of a Lester Moore getting killed in Tombstone, although legends have been created about this. But there is still truth here. Sometimes, less is more.

TDM