Facts vs. Fear

A recent study conducted in New York State concluded that 13.9 percent, or about 2.7 million, of the state’s residents have been infected with the coronavirus. That number is ten times higher than the state’s official count of 269,000.

While government officials were quick to point out that these are preliminary results, it supports a widely held belief: A large number of people have been infected with the coronavirus and have exhibited only mild, or no, symptoms. And two studies in California–one by the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and one by Stanford in Santa Clara County–as well as studies in Germany and the Netherlands, have come to a similar conclusion.

If these numbers are accurate, the mortality rate of the coronavirus would plummet to about .5 percent. While this is still much higher than the seasonal flu, it would appear that contracting the coronavirus is not the death sentence that many government officials would like us to believe.

For example, in announcing her mandatory face mask order, Harris County Judge Lina Hildago warned violators: “You can and will lead to death.” Similarly, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded to those who claimed the cure of an economic shutdown was worse than the illness: “The illness is death. What is worse than death?”

Despite the hyperbole from Hildago, Cuomo, and countless other government officials, being infected with the coronavirus does not mean certain death. In fact, if the studies cited above are accurate, 99.5 percent of the people infected will survive.

If the American people had the actual facts, they would be far less accepting of the economic shutdown. But the facts do not support the desires of power lusting government officials, and so they must resort to fear. They must make the American people believe that anyone contracting the disease will die, and anyone who defies government orders is a mass murder.

But the fact is, no individual can single-handily wreak the death and destruction that government can. No individual can shut down an economy and make it illegal to work–only government can. No individual can prohibit others from trying a drug that might save one’s life–only government can. No individual can prevent others from producing and selling values that others want and need–only government can.

In the past two months, government has made it illegal for many to work, prohibited many from trying potentially life-saving drugs, and prevented individuals from producing and selling the values that others want and need. Government has justified all of this, not with facts, but with fear. If we do not sheepishly obey government’s edicts, we will all die.

The sad fact is, the coronavirus will kill relatively few of us. But the longer we sheepishly follow government’s edicts, the more all of us will suffer.