Experts Say "Stay Home, Stay Safe"

                “Shelter in place” they told us. “Stay at home,” they bleated. “Stay home, stay safe” became a mantra, repeated ad nauseum by our rulers, experts and the intelligentsia. They told us how much they care about us. Hated to take away our freedoms and our livelihoods don’t ya’ know, but didn’t want us to die at the hands of this horrible coronavirus. At first they said we can’t let down our guard until we flatten the curve. Then when the curves started flattening, they said there will be a second wave of infections come fall and winter, and we can’t afford to open things up much until an effective vaccine is found…likely in 12-18 months, two years tops. Now they say that the virus is mutating so quickly that vaccines will not work. So sorry, but we might never be able to go back to normal, back to the way we were. Ah, those misty, water-colored memories of freedom. But, hey, it’s all because they care. So much. About us.

                It did seem kind of strange that they deemed abortion an essential service but not religious services. Struck some of us as odd that our leaders were releasing thousands of hardened criminals from prisons around the country to prevent them from contracting the virus, while they were simultaneously sentencing uppity salon keepers, lone wakeboarders and non-compliant sunbathers to jail terms. But this was all for our own safety they said.

                As it turns out, the most dangerous place to be is in a home. COVID-19 is much more likely to spread indoors than outdoors in an open environment. Several recent studies bear this out. Even Gov. Cuomo admitted this recently. One study found 254 of 318 outbreaks stemmed from houses. Levels of the contagion were almost non-existent in outdoor areas, even public ones, except in areas particularly prone to crowding.  A Japanese study, conducted by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, determined that, "the odds that a primary case transmitted COVID-19 in a closed environment was 18.7 times greater compared to an open-air environment." One’s home is a closed environment.

                This is why the rates of coronavirus infection are so high in New York and New jersey, and also in many other urban areas. It is why they are so low in states like Wyoming and Montana. There is a much higher percentage of “indoors” versus “outdoors” in the former areas, a much higher percentage of “outdoors” versus “indoors” in the latter.

                Yet our rulers tell us all to stay home and send cops or drones to chase us back inside if we dare to venture out. It’s almost as if they care more about their own power than they do us. But that can’t be. They’ve told us so.

                Guess we have a choice. One that we used to know well.

                Live free or die.