The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

More Evidence That Lockdown Orders Are the Wrong Approach to COVID-19

Posted on | April 28, 2020 | 2 Comments

Somewhere between 20% and 50% of all deaths from the coronavirus pandemic have been elderly residents of nursing homes. We knew, at the very outset, that the elderly were at highest risk from this disease, and one would think that measures to protect them would have been a high priority. Yet as Daniel Greenfield explains, such measures were not taken, in the very same “blue” states where Democratic governors have enforced the most stringent lockdown orders. (Hat-tip: CBD at AOSHQ.)

If the elderly and other people with health conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to this disease could be protected, there would be no need for the economically damaging lockdown orders, once we had clearly avoided the worst-case “surge” scenarios that had been projected. Most of the country went into lockdown mode in mid-March and, by the first week in April, we had passed the crisis point without crashing the health-care system — the “apex” of the “curve” never reached the level where hospitals ran out of ICU beds, etc. The daily number of COVID-19 deaths in New York, for example, peaked at 799 on April 9, and as of yesterday was down to 337, a 58% decline in less than three weeks.

We now know that the number of people infected with the virus greatly exceeds the number of known cases of the disease, which is to say that most people exposed to the virus are either asymptomatic or never become sick enough to seek treatment. The virus did not overwhelm the health-care system in its first “surge,” and it is highly unlikely that lifting the lockdown orders now would result in any system-crashing surge because (a) substantial “herd immunity” has already been reached, and (b) the risk to the elderly is now sufficiently understood that the most vulnerable segment of the population will be protected.

Let’s add this: Nobody is proposing to force anyone to go to a restaurant, or attend a baseball game, or otherwise expose themselves to situations where there is an elevated risk of exposure to the virus. If you want to err on the side of caution, and continue hiding out at home, nobody is going to stop you. But we are clearly past the point where governments should be mandating closure of “non-essential” businesses, or arresting people for going for a walk in the park. As long as vulnerable elderly people are being protected, or acting responsibly to protect themselves, the rest of America can go back to business. Stifle your inner “Karen”:

A math teacher at Steinert High School [in Hamilton, N.J.] was caught on video this week shouting at a group of teenagers playing football in the park that they should “die a long, painful death” from the coronavirus.
The teacher was identified by multiple sources as Nicole Griggs, who has been a township teacher for the last 15 years and also taught middle school, according to the district website.
One of the teenagers, a freshman at Steinert, told The Trentonian that he and a group of school friends were playing football Thursday at the former Homedell School, on the 500 block of East Franklin Street, when Griggs stopped to admonish them from behind a chain-link fence. . . .
At first, Griggs, who appears to be wearing a gray sweatshirt and walking her dog, seems to be looking out for the teens by telling them the parks are closed because of the virus outbreak.
She asks them if they need her to scream the warning “loud enough so you can hear me over your music. Parks closed. You will get arrested if the cops come.”
She soon melts down when one of the teens asks, “Wait, can we go over there?”
The teacher goes so far as to tell the teens she doesn’t care if they put her on blast online.
“Parks closed. The whole area,” Griggs says. “Get it through your thick head. You are the reason we are in this situation. You are the problem, not the solution. Go ahead keep recording. Who are you going to show it to? Post me on social media. You’re the idiot doing the wrong thing. I’m just trying to save your ass and save your life. But die, OK. I hope both of you get the coronavirus. I hope you both die a long, painful death.”

Kids throwing a football around in a park are not “the reason we are in this situation,” but the lockdown mentality appeals to the Karens of the world, who can’t stand to see anyone having fun.

(The “Karen” meme explained.)




 

Category: Health Care

Comments

2 Responses to “More Evidence That Lockdown Orders Are the Wrong Approach to COVID-19”

  1. 30 April 2020 | Dark Brightness
    April 29th, 2020 @ 2:36 pm

    […] Kids throwing a football around in a park are not “the reason we are in this situation,” but the lockdown mentality appeals to the Karens of the world, who can’t stand to see anyone having fun. […]

  2. Oh My God Karen, You Can’t Just Say You Hope People Die of COVID-19 | 357 Magnum
    April 30th, 2020 @ 8:40 am

    […] tip to The Other McCain, who has so much more on the Coronavirus outbreak. And I know the title of this post comes from a […]