By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – April 12, 2021 After over a year of nothing but Pandemic, Pandemic, do we know any more than what we are being told? Seems to me, but what do I know, that the same song is being played over and over again with very little to show for it. I would think that the inquiring public would begin to ask some serious questions about all of the seeming contradictory messaging around Covid-19. The silence is deafening, as such I propose to ask a few questions to my public and see if some clear and concise message is forth coming. We have been told for a solid year that wearing masks, social distancing, washing your hands, and no unnecessary trips away from home would slow the spread of the virus and once a vaccine was in place the virus would be defeated. We are now learning that even if you risk vaccination, the length you are protected from the severe effects of the virus is limited, and it may not protect you from infection. We also have learned that there is a small percentage of vaccinated people that experience major to life threatening experiences. It has been played off as minor, the negative effects, but how do they measure up to the small percentage of folks that have negative effects from being infected by the virus in the first place? I understand that John Hopkins and the CDC are keeping score, but how many people have actually succumbed to Covid-19 alone? Is the report from the CDC that only six percent of all those that have died are solely from the virus? Is it correct that those sixty five years and older have not died in any greater numbers than pre-virus? Has the over all death toll for 2020 declined by nearly 300,000? Is the mortality rate for actual deaths from the virus less than that of the Common Flu? Is the virus as deadly as we have been led to believe? If one is to look at the quality of testing for the virus, you will find that the PCR test is the "Gold Standard" of testing, but is it? Recent testing of 1500 positive results for Covid-19 in Brazil revealed that the virus detected was that of influenza rather than Covid. The method of testing was the "Gold Standard" PCR test. How accurate are PCR tests when according to the CDC nearly seventy percent of those testing positive for Covid-19 are asymptomatic, and have no obvious symptoms associated with the virus? Are those who have tested actually infected? The man who developed PCR testing stated before the Pandemic that the PCR test was not meant to detect viruses, is that true? Can we trust that the numbers of positive tests are in fact what they say they reveal? There seems to be a lot of things about this virus that even the "experts" seem to have great difficulty explaining when measured against what seems to be happening in the world of Covid around us. Much of what we are being told by the "experts" seem to shift as circumstances and information is revealed. Over the past year, these and many other questions have been put to those that have considerable expertise in medicine without much in the way of explanation. Many states have relaxed the mandates that have been in place with mixed results, but strict adherence to masking, social distancing, washing hands, and staying at home do not seem to be measuring up to the insistence that it must continue with no end in sight. If it was to have some measure of success, where is it? We now are at the point where vaccinations have ramped up, and most that wish to be vaccinated can do so. While the numbers of those that are vaccinated increase and the reported numbers of those that have survived infection, will we see a decline in the number of positive tests? Will the experience of past viruses mirror our current experience with Covid, where it tapers off in the Spring only to reemerge in the Fall? Will the current vaccines that appear to work for the most part be successful with the new variants of Covid-19 that have already appeared? The questions are endless, but until they are asked, how will we know whether or not we are being told the truth? Thus far the "experts" have not really given us a consistent message about the virus, only what they think we must do to "keep us safe". Do we really need saving?