Opinion: COVID-19 Fear is Over

A big city mayor complains nobody is listening.  I heard him on TV Independence Day.  He was reflecting on his efforts to keep area parks and beaches empty and with little success.  Back in March I said, on-air, lock down orders would only be as good as the public’s willingness to abide by the decrees.  And last week I saw a story where data shows in states where there were no orders, the public self-policed.  In other words, people stayed home without any government instructions.

The mayor called the latest developments “lock down fatigue”.  The calls to save Grandma have worn off.

I spent part of the holiday at Anderson Ranch Reservoir and in Pine, Idaho.  In “downtown” Pine there is a public restroom.  There isn’t any hand sanitizer provided.  Campers were at times in long lines to use the place and grabbing the door handle without any extra precautions.  Like in previous summers!

While I can’t say if there were more or fewer campers this year (it was my first visit), there were a lot of tents and RVs on the beaches and nearby campgrounds.  There weren’t very many gaps between campsites.

It’s over, folks.  Not because the Governor made any declaration.  It’s because you decided it was safe to go back outside.  There was an Associated Press story last week out of Nevada.  Diagnosed cases are spiking but demands for ventilators and intensive care beds isn’t following the trend.  Which means we’ve seen COVID-19 “attenuate” in many places.  A mutation may allow easier transmission but the virus traded much of its threat for greater spread.  Mainstream media is the last bastion of hysteria but I don’t believe even it can stretch the fear until Election Day.  Trust in media and in many other institutions continues to wane.