Is it possible the 99% survival rate has been driven by social distancing, wearing masks, and other measures? Would it have been much worse without them? Or would have it been the same if we did nothing? There’s no way to tell, is there?

I know this. My friend and manager at work had his mom go into intensive care with lung failure and pass away 10 days later. From COVID. The bar where my daughter works has had 4 employees test positive including a friend who was in her wedding and who has an impaired immune system from being a breast cancer survivor. Is she gonna be okay? We don’t know yet. Plus my daughter is getting tested every week because of all the exposure she has had and that is very stressful for a father.

Also, I am 68 years old and likely the only one here who has not only lived through the 2008 swine flu but also both the 1967 and 1957 Hong Kong Flus. Those 3 pandemics combined have death tolls approximately equal to this one. Which isn’t done yet.

But I also see the other side. It’s bullshit that restaurants can’t have indoor customers but airplanes can carry passengers sealed in an aluminum tube with a recycled air supply. Small businesses don’t matter but big ones do? It’s bullshit that 20,000 people can assemble to protest but no more than 10 can go to church. It’s these arbitrary and illogical restrictions that make people think that the whole thing is bullshit.

I feel like I have lost one year of my life at a time when I don’t have any to spare. We can do much better than this. But will we?