DAN SCHINHOFEN: Facts, not fear

At the end of this piece, I will list my sources, which are mostly the CDC. From the beginning of this “crisis,” we have been told that we need to listen to the experts, and that is what I have been doing. The CDC recommends using masks and wiping down surfaces, but they do not have clinical data to back this up, and they even contradict their own message in some cases.

As a nation, we have just had our entire society reordered by far-reaching governors that claim to be doing this stuff, “for your own good.” But it seems that there is no real data put forward to support the germophobic conditions they want us all to live under.

Businesses have been told to only allow half occupancy and to wipe down all surfaces, and yet the CDC website says, “There is no documentation that COVID-19 can be transferred from counter tops or other surfaces.” (This page was updated and now states, “This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads…” yet still no documentation, as other studies show it does not live longer than a minute outside the body. So, if someone were to sneeze on a surface, and you immediately touched it, and then immediately touched your mouth, you “may” catch it.) The virus also dies within one minute when exposed to sunlight.

The idea that masks are going to protect you from getting this virus is also put on us from bureaucrats that would like us all to become like the Far East where masks are common, and yet the CDC site states, “Your cloth face covering may protect them. Your cloth face covering may protect you.” (Notice the word “may”? No data to back this up.) And yet, on that same page it states, “A cloth face covering may not protect the wearer, but it may keep the wearer from spreading the virus to others.”

Does it bother you at all that we are, in many states, being forced to wear these while the CDC shows no data to support wearing them and even states that it may not protect you? How about the fact that you are getting less oxygen when wearing a face covering?

How can we allow our entire society to be reshaped based on “may”? In which scientific community is “may” considered proof? There are many more deadly diseases that kill many more people and yet for this virus we now laid down and allowed one man, the governor, to dictate how we will now live.

Now onto the other “new normal” statements about social distancing. The CDC tells us that we should remain six feet apart and show no data to support that arbitrary number. National Geographic did put out a study that shows droplets (which is how the virus spreads) can travel up to 27 feet, so, if we were actually using scientific data to create this “new normal” (that’s if someone sneezes of course), we should all be at least 27 to 30 feet apart. The old 10-foot pole line doesn’t even fit here.

The governor of our state (at the time of this writing) was asking his medical experts to help him decide if masks should be mandatory across the entire state.

Instead of relying on his doctor, who isn’t even licensed to practice medicine here the United States, he should just follow the scientific evidence the CDC has put forward on this topic.

As I stated before, they do not list any so enough with this new normal, feel safe nonsense, and let us all return to what was normal just six months ago.

While the CDC states that children under two do not need to wear a mask, many states are calling on children five and over to wear a mask.

All of these “precautions” seem a bit arbitrary and are just in place to make us feel safe, with no real scientific data to back them up. While many of them “may” sound reasonable when you first hear them, it does not take long, just reading the CDC site, to see that there is no “documentation” to back up their “recommendations.”

And that brings me to my final point.

When this all started, I went along with everyone else for the first two weeks because at that time we still did not have any good data about this virus, and so, to avoid the zombie apocalypse or melting into a puddle of goo, two weeks at home seemed reasonable.

That two weeks turned into another 30 days and now into the new normal, all without our elected representatives in our state Legislature getting to hear or vote on any of these jobs and business-killing measures.

Now that the fatality rate is plunging down to annual flu levels (the more tests the more that number will drop) can we all just put on our big-boy pants and actually follow the data and facts and tell our governor to stop trying to remake our state and society based on fear.

I am not afraid of catching this virus, as I am sure my grandson had this in January of this year. He had already had the annual flu, and when my daughter took him in to be checked, as he was coughing and running a fever, they tested him again for the annual flu and the doctor said he didn’t have that, so they told him to go home and it will pass. I wish our governor would listen to this doctor; it will pass.

With these words, I wish those in charge would finally admit that this was not the plague or zombie apocalypse, and repeal all of the feel-safe measures that they have put in place that will continue to drag our economy down and cost us more jobs and businesses.

After all, we are all just walking sacks of hazardous material, so unless we all wear hazmat suits all the time, you “may” still get sick. I reject the new normal, as it is neither new nor normal and is not supported by the facts.

https://api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/science/2020/04/coronavirus-covid-sneeze-fluid-dynamics-in-photos

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-covid-spreads.html

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/about-face-coverings.html

Dan Schinhofen is a longtime Pahrump resident and a former Nye County commissioner.