I found this on Facebook here. I have made some changes to it as well. Consider it an upgrade.
How to have a conversation with your favorite Lockdown Addict:
You: “Why are we still locked down? I thought the whole reason we did this was to avoid overwhelming our healthcare system.”
Lockdown Addict (LA): “Don’t you watch the news? There are still thousands of cases every day!”
You: “Yes, but, again, the whole reason for the lockdown was to flatten the curve. It’s flat just about everywhere in the US. It’s certainly not spiking as we were told would happen if we didn’t lockdown.”
LA: “See? That proves that lockdowns work. We need to continue them!”
(Note how both of those answers are unresponsive)
You: “Except how do you explain the lack of overwhelming numbers in the states that never locked down? Or in states, like Florida, that was slow to lockdown? Or the fact that cases haven’t spiked in states, like Georgia, that opened up two weeks ago? How about Sweden where they never went into full lockdown and their kids go to school without any protective measures?”
LA: “But, there are still thousands of new cases every day! This disease is not going away!”
You: “Yes, but the overwhelming majority of people who get it recover. Those who don’t, sadly, are overwhelmingly older, in nursing homes and with underlying conditions. Why don’t we protect and quarantine them and let everyone else get back to work?”
LA: “Because those people have family members. And many people who have the disease are asymptomatic. We need to dramatically increase our testing! We can’t think of reopening until many more people are tested.”
You: “Testing is fine but it’s not a reason for our economy to stay closed. After all, someone who tests negative today could catch the virus tomorrow, right? Should we test all 330 million people in this country every day? And, what happens if someone tests positive? What about all of the false-negative tests? How about the president of Tanzania who left his country open since the tests came in positive when used on a goat, sheep, papaya, and jackfruit?
LA: “They should stay home so they don’t infect anyone else.”
You: “Yes, but in New York, the epicenter of this crisis, two-thirds of the recently admitted to hospitals had been at home and, a substantial number of them were unemployed. Doesn’t staying at home run the risk of infecting everyone you live with?”
LA: “That’s why we need contact tracing – so we know everyone who an infected person has been in contact with!”
You: “Well, setting aside how difficult and time-consuming that would be to do, what happens when we do identify everyone who’s been exposed to the virus?”
LA: “We make them quarantine at home!”
You: “Have you already forgotten my last answer? That’s just going to make more people sick. And how are you going to enforce it?”
LA: “You’re a racist and you want everyone to die.”
Folks, this has gone on long enough. Our society is in the midst of an economic, societal, and health catastrophe. Even if we assume all the elected official Lockdown Enthusiasts have purely good intentions (which they don’t), it’s time to end this madness now.
If you want to insist that everyone wear a mask (even though the very best ones – which are supposed to be reserved for health care workers – are only 95% effective), get wrecked. You want everyone to practice social distancing? Will not work! You cannot maintain a healthy society by doing that. You want to clean things – like public transportation – a lot more often? Ok, but think about the impact that is going to make on the environment and if it is really necessary.
But, enough of being so scared. The numbers continue to pour in and there was an overreaction. Time to get off your ass, cancel your Netflix subscription, and get back to work.
Do not worry though, rumor has it that there is a Tom Hanks Vaccine being created to solve the problem. It will take 12-18 months and will probably be as effective as the current flu vaccine which is 47%.
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