Reopen the country

My name is Steve D`Agostino, and I feel so strongly about how our moronic society is over-reacting to the threat of COVID-19, I put together the following: 1) this page stating my opinions; 2) this subdomain on my main account; and 3) a database for people to voice their opinions and sign my petition.

While I understand that COVID-19 can be a serious health risk, particularly to the "most vulnerable" portion of the population, I think our society`s reaction to it is infinitely worse. At no time in our nation`s history, did we ever do this for any other disease. And according to my research, the mortality rate of this disease is only 2%, while the mortality rate of SARS (for those of you who are old enough to remember it) was 10%, and the mortality rate for some types of MRSA infections can be as high as 30%! Yet, "the world did not come to an end" for either of these risks. And there are so many much more deadly diseases out there - for example Ebola has mortality rates from 60 - 90% !!!!! Swine flu had a 20% mortality rate, and according to the CDC`s Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report: "The percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza is 6.9%..."

Both the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization have admitted, on multiple occasions, that they can contain this virus - it is already too wide spread and way past the stage where it can be contained (i.e. stopped) by quarantining the infected individuals. But regardless, here in NJ, our governor has stated that he wants to contain the virus, when even the so-called experts agree that it cannot be contained. All they can try to do is "slow the spread", with the primary goal not being so as to reduce the number of infections, nor to allow people to live longer; but instead, so that the health care workers don`t get completely overwhelmed with too many cases too quickly.

Moreover, what about those individuals who already were exposed, assumed it was just a cold, then got better. They may have the virus inside them, and still be contagious, yet never even know it. Also, supposedly 1 out of 3 infected individuals will never show symptoms at all, yet they will still be contagious. So what do we do with all of these millions of people? Do we send them all out to some leper colony to live out the rest of their lives? And what about all of their belongings and homes / apartments? Those will all be infected too, so do we burn all of their belongings in huge bonfires, and do we burn all those buildings and housing structures down to the ground?

On top of that, recent statistics, coming directly from the main stream media, shows that 66% of all new cases are coming from those who are social distancing and staying at home. The so-called experts cannot explain this. But this statistic can only lead to one of two possible conclusions (if not both). One possible conclusion is that the hospitals are so blindly and grossly over-reporting COVID numbers to get their extra cash, that included in those numbers are mostly false positives (i.e. infections from wide-spread existing diseases such as the common cold, flu, pneumonia, etc., as well as deaths from general heart /lung failures). The other conclusion is that these social distancing techniques are not only futile, but further are actually making the situation worse.

And just as I had predicted over 2 months ago (i.e. back on Mar 12, 2020), our entire economy is about to completely unravel. The stock market is essentially crashed, a barrel of oil has a negative value, and given that the entire substance of our economy is based on capitalism, all businesses should be treated as essential and must reopen immediately, or else these dire and irreversible consequences will soon be upon all of us. Already, we have been hit with price increases, as well as price gouging, by our supermarkets, and also by many of the restaurants as well. This is going to quickly lead to food shortages, and in turn wide-spread panic in the streets, where hordes of looters and gangs will be breaking into people`s homes and robbing them, and unless the homeowner is armed, those families will be helpless to protect themselves or their own "essential" items, such as food and medicine. But narrow-minded governors, having tunnel vision on the unrealistic goal of complete virus containment, somehow can`t see this scenario as real, let alone imminent (which sadly I believe it is).

Thus, the cold hard truth is that sooner or later, we all will be exposed to this virus. But fortunately most of us will be able to fight it off just like the common cold or flu. However, those who try to hide in a cave will not have built up any immunity to it, which will probably mutate and grow stronger over time (i.e. just like HIV). But unlike HIV, which can only be spread by direct contact of bodily fluids, this virus is primarily spread airborne, so there`s no way to avoid it being exposed to it. Thus, although certainly highly advisable in general, as it pertains specifically to this virus, washing hands and using hand sanitizer really only helps with the secondary source of infection (i.e. hand contact). It seems to me that our best bet is to just accept the inevitable exposure to the virus each of us will have, and instead we should focus our efforts on dramatically reducing the mortality rate from the current 2% down to the 0.1% mortality rate of the common cold/flu.

And what is the purpose of a curfew (e.g. here in NJ, it is 8PM)? Does the virus get stronger after 8PM? Is it like the movie "Gremlins" where the virus will become more malignant if you feed it after midnight? Also, even the "essential" business have limited hours, so those reduced hours force more people to compress inside a shorter span of time, so that actually increases the density and reduces social distances inside those retail establishments. Although perhaps counter-intuitive, it would be more logical to extend the hours of stores, possibly 24-hours if at all possible. And wearing masks is useless, as unlike a respirator, the mask does not filter any of the air you breath in or breath out, but instead only deflects the air to the back and sides of your head instead of from coming straight out. But those air particles are still floating inside the confined space of the retail stores, so using a mask does not make any difference. So if and when people actually stop with these knee-jerk reactions and instead they actually think about it, our current reactions really make no sense at all.

Additionally, the reported COVID-19 numbers are way too high. Hospitals are pressuring doctors to magnify (i.e. inflate) the number of reported infections, as well as the number of reported deaths, solely because they get anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 EXTRA per patient, if they report it as COVID-19 rather than just the common cold, the flu, or Pneumonia. So I have little doubt that if not for that financial incentive, the actual COVID-19 numbers would be less than half of what is being reported. This fact was essentially confirmed by a main stream news media (e.g. USA Today). Read more about hopsitals gaming the system

A big factor as to why I created this site was because Facebook improperly takes down posts for planned protest rallies in Trenton, yet openly promotes other large gatherings which it agrees with. More on that here

And perhaps what is most outrageous to me is the fact that state governors can choose to disregard the orders from a president of the United States (and also choose to ignore federal laws), and force people to forfeit their freedoms and liberties, all under the cover of "a state of emergency". Here in NJ, our governor can keep our state closed indefinitely - for months, years, or even decades, and he does not even need to get approval from any of our state legislators. And he can blatantly disregard any presidential order, as he has unequivocally stated that he would do if the president ordered him to reopen any "non-essential" businesses in NJ. Yet municipalities cannot chose to ignore him. For example, the mayor of Las Vegas cannot override the Nevada governor, even though it is clear that she wants to reopen her city immediately. Here, they have even closed public parks, so none of us can even take a walk in the open outdoors. I understand that recently a guy was surfing out on the ocean, all by himself with nobody else around for miles, and he got arrested for violating state orders. I bet the next thing they`ll be doing is closing down the sidewalks too. And what about the rights of business owners, who are about to lose everything from this forced extended shutdown? Why can`t they choose, along with any of their willing employees and their customers who wants to patronize their establishments, on whether or not they are willing to take the risk? We can keep isolating the most vulnerable portion of our population, and any restaurant or bar patron can certify that he/she will not interact with any vulnerable person for at least 30 days after visiting that restaurant, bar or movie theater. They have infringed upon people`s most basic rights and freedoms, even to the point of prohibiting religious gatherings. We are a nation of freedoms and laws, and no person, including a state`s governor, should be able to make us prisoners indefinitely trapped inside of our own homes.

So those are just some of my thoughts on this issue. Thank you for reading. Please use my form below to share your own opinions on this issue.

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