[PJMedia] How did we go from "flatten the COVID-19 curve" to "shut up and wear the mask—or else" in just a few short months? Back in March, we were told that lockdowns were necessary to ensure COVID-19 cases would not overwhelm hospitals and, in particular, intensive-care units. In most parts of the country, hospitals were not only not overwhelmed, many were forced to lay off nurses and other employees because elective procedures were put on hold — a move that likely cost lives as people postponed health critical screenings and avoided going to the hospital when they had chest pains for fear of catching COVID-19.
Before we go any further, please hear what I am not saying. I’m not denying COVID-19 is a serious and sometimes deadly illness. It is, and many families are grieving the loss of loved ones who’ve died of it. And many families are grieving the loss of loved ones from the flu, from auto accidents, and from cancer. Death catches up to all of us eventually.
I’m also not denying that masks can slow down the spread of disease. They can.
But at the beginning of the pandemic, we were assured that once hospitals had things under control we could go back to our regularly scheduled lives, with the understanding that as things reopened and testing increased there would be a spike in the number of cases. Now it seems the goalposts are moving again and we’re being sent into further lockdown —in some cases more stringent lockdowns than before — by governors and other mini-tyrants who are in panic mode because people are catching a contagious (but not very deadly for most people) disease that is, you know, contagious.
Case in point, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who on Wednesday announced a statewide mask order that came with a threat: We’d all better obey him if we want schools to open in the fall....
But while the number of diagnosed cases of COVID-19 has risen in Ohio over the last month, hospital admissions haven't kept up and the number of deaths has plummeted...
[Graphs in link.]
You have to dig around the Ohio Dept. of Health website to find these numbers. When you land on the site you're greeted with a graph showing the cumulative number of deaths and hospitalizations, which make it appear there's been a huge spike, when in fact it's showing the growth of the cumulative total over time....
You have to dig around the Ohio Dept. of Health website to find these numbers. When you land on the site you're greeted with a graph showing the cumulative number of deaths and hospitalizations, which make it appear there's been a huge spike, when in fact it's showing the growth of the cumulative total over time.... |