My library has been instructed to revert to curbside service only again as part of the district response to COVID-19. One staff member at another branch tested positive, so that branch closed for cleaning. They are a bedroom community for a major urban center, so it's not too surprising that there are active cases there, but we are rural and remote. Oh, well. The district wants consistent policy, so we do as we are told.

This latest pandemic panic has led me to consider some of the hsyteria that has been brewing for the past seven months since the first lockdowns, and some of my initial perceptions. As the media and political alignments drive people to divide themselves into camps of hate-spewing virtue signallers, let's look at a few things and try to remain calm.

SARS-CoV-2 & COVID-19 are not the flu.

While influenza and SARS-CoV-2 are both coronaviruses, they seem to present distinctly different risks to different population sectors. This new bug is much deadlier to the elderly, but presents minimal risk to younger populations.

SARS-CoV-2 is not the Black Death

There seems to be a popular obsession with drawing comparisons to severe pandemics with huge death tolls in the past. This is clearly not warranted now that we have real data. We are suffering far more from political intervention than from viral infection at this point. As people fixate on the rates of positive test result announcements, they ignore the death rate dropping.

There seems to be room for skepticism about the COVID tests.

I'm no expert here, I admit, but the rates of false positives and false negatives, the questions raised about the way the tests are performed, and the constant test hype strike me as open to criticism.

Masks and Social Distancing Work...

...But they are not a panacea, and you do need proper masks, properly worn, for there to be any real benefit instead of security theater. "Wearing a mask means you care about other people," they say. Not necessarily. They have their place in risk mitigationd, but the blanket mask mandates do not seem to be an effective policy. Between providing a false sense of security and encouraging people to comply for mere aesthetics, there is room for criticism.

Masks do not trap Carbon Dioxide

But they do trap moisture and microbes. That can be bad if masks are not washed or disposed of properly. And they do fog glasses, making them a safety hazard. People unaccustomed to masks also may change their breathing patterns due to the unfamiliar and uncomfortable sensation of wearing a mask, and that can create serious issues.

Lockdowns have devastated the economy

Pretending otherwise is naive. Bailout money is created from debt, taxation, and inflation, and will have long-term consequences as we try to recover from this artificial economic collapse. And that is on top of the economic instability that was already looming. I can't guarantee another Great Depression/Recession,but the ingredients are there for it to be possible. More money chasing fewer goods is highly likely to result in at least some degree of price inflation. Just remember that the economy is people, and people can be incredibly creative when they need to solve problems, too, even when government gets in the way.

Lockdowns are Bad for Health Care

People have been putting off necessary medical care for ages now, and even though hospitalizations are not generally severe, people are reporting on hospital occupancy levels as if it proves the pandemic is worsening as they ignore the real COVID numbers reported, and turn a blind eye to the people who are just there for long-delayed treatment.

So, let's not join the virus deniers or the pandemic panickers. Try to respect the fears of others, even if you think they are irrational. Try to respect the independence of others, even if you think they are lackadaisical. Take some time to analyze the data. The initial predictions were simply wrong. The partisan blame game is the usual election year bluster targeting the incumbent combined with real complaints about policies.

Look back at the predictions from February and March. Now look where we are seven months into a two-week lockdown. Look at countries like Sweden or states like South Dakota that were condemned, and compare that to the states and countries championed as heroes of the quarantine, and see whether the results were really so great now that we have had more time to observe what has happened in a longer time scale. And feel free to comment or criticize below.