The reaction to COVID-19 boggles my mind. The biggest problem is that we are listening to a doctor who has been wrong more than a broken clock, Dr. Fauci. In January he said twice, no problem, in February he said it three times, no problem. Then all of a sudden at the end of February he said it would lead to 2 million dead in the U.S. Wrong again, it will only be around 80,000 of the most vulnerable. Listening to this guy is like listening to Nancy Pelosi about saving tax money.
First, the world population is 7.7 billion. As of this date 252,000 deaths worldwide or .003274 percent, the U.S. is .02141 percent and Tennessee is .00279 percent. The chance of dying is extremely minuscule.
The CDC says flu deaths are an average of 400,000 worldwide which is a .005195 percent. When compared to COVID-19 you have 58 percent higher chance to die from the flu.
In the U.S. smoking kills 480,000, 40,000 from car accidents, 88,000 from drinking alcohol, and 640,000 from heart disease. Why don’t we outlaw smoking, drinking, driving a car and eating cheeseburgers?
These are facts, not “computer models.” I have been a scientist for 45 years evaluating data. That is my credibility. Data is data, it is evaluated the same way. We use the scientific method, not computer models filled with erroneous assumptions of the people programming the model. They are useless in this case.
Here is how real scientists make predictions. The scientific method:
1. Make an observation
2. Ask a question
3. Form a hypothesis, or testable explanation
4. Test the problem
5. Iterate: use the results to make a new hypotheses or predictions.
None of this was followed. They did not even use their own graphs which showed that New York, New Jersey, and a couple of more states were the problem. The graphs showed a virtually flat curve for at least 28 states that never even saw a “peak.” I might understand quarantining the problem states but for Governor Lee to shut down Tennessee on this data showed a level of stupidity that again boggles my mind.
Shutting down this country with China-like, draconian, communist methods was stupid and unconstitutional. Sweden disproved that those methods were needed. They took reasonable steps. no mass closures or communist methods, without ruining their economy.
When you compare this cowardly response to our ancestors and what they went through to feed their families you should be ashamed. What if the Pilgrims had stayed home? What if all of the pioneers had said “…going west is too dangerous…I think I will stay home and let my children starve?” What if our military just said…”this is too dangerous…we want respond to the bombing of Pearl Harbor?”
Fear has wreaked economic and societal havoc. Giving into fear means you are a coward. Who are these cowards? About 75 percent of the country with about half Democrats. Yea, Democrats are the governors that have the most severe draconian rules (look it up) and want this shutdown to continue as long as possible to keep Trump from being reelected. Just recently Gallup had a poll that asked Democrats and Republicans if they wanted to get back to work. Forty-four percent of Republicans said yes, only 4 percent of Democrats…..big surprise.
What if first responders, food producers, and medical personnel stayed home? Are they just sacrifices to your fear? Are their lives worth less than yours? What kind of person would sit home to protect their miserable lives while their family starved?
We should just open things up, go back to work and ride it out. I am not willing to give up my constitutional rights or my common sense for any reason.
Tim Price
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Mr. Price,
You?ve already given up your common sense. As for your constitutional rights, please don’t force them on those of us trying to stay healthy and take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to ourselves, the elderly or the immuno-compromised.
I’m assuming you have come to the conclusion that COVID-19 is just a “hoax”, as well.
Do us a favor and stay home with your rebel flag and shotgun.
Cheri Taylor
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The title tells the whole story. But it’s not the story the author intended.
Charles T. Rudolph MD
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Now, I don't know Tim Price, and he doesn't know me, and he probably doesn't need me to defend him. He says he is a scientist; my degrees from Purdue University are in mechanical engineering, which is arguably the most practical of all sciences. I read his original opinion letter and found nothing particularly disturbing, unreasonable, or questionable in it. He presented several numbers, statistics that are easily verified (although fluctuating on a daily basis), and he expressed his opinion of those numbers and his opinion of the various official responses to the numbers. That's fair enough; after all, this whole many months of Covid-19 business has been based primarily on those numbers. He stated that many people want to get back to work, and many people don't want to go back to work. And we all know that, virus or no virus, there are plenty of people who actually like to work, and people who feel a personal obligation to work for their living, and people who honestly want to go back to work immediately - just as there are an abundance of folks who feel no such compulsion and never will.
So what is unreasonable, incorrect, or objectionable about any of that? What is there about Tim Price's letter that gives anyone any justification for saying he's given up his common sense, or is in fact just stupid? And where on Earth did that rebel-flag-and-shotgun comment come from? Shucks, I have a couple of old bandanna handkerchiefs that resemble 'rebel flags,' and a shotgun as well. Am I supposed to feel ashamed - or even stupid - because of that?
Tim Price expressed an opinion, his personal opinion, and he is certainly not alone in holding or in expressing that particular opinion - the opinion that the U.S. national, state, and local governments have outdone themselves in their Chicken Little, Monkey-see-monkey-do response to the Chinese virus. They have certainly exceeded their knowledge of the situation, and have likely exceeded their authority in this situation. To some extent, though, even politicians can be forgiven for making bad decisions in the past few months, because we've all been given precious little honest, verifiable information about this global plague, and I guarantee it is impossible to make good decisions based on bad information. The problem with politicians is that they so often seem to err on the side of excess.
As far as I can tell, anyone who wants to hunker down and hide at home for the rest of May, or the rest of 2020, for the whole next decade, or until death do us part - you have that right. Nobody has ever said otherwise; nobody is going to force you to get out and get around and act 'normal' again until you jolly well please to do that. It is your choice; you can stay at home for as long as you want, hiding and hoping that nothing goes wrong.
But somehow, I'll bet that if and whenever the various governments might demand that you get out and about, if they require that you show your face, that you begin again to participate actively in the real life of the real world, or (Heaven forbid!) if you are ordered to go to work - oh, boy, then you will be the firstest and the loudest at claiming your Constitutional rights are being violated.
Larry Cloud
Lookout Valley