By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – January 19, 2021 It has been a year since Covid-19 burst on the scene here in the United States, and for those that have paid attention, we learn something new nearly every day. After hearing and reading greatly exaggerated stories and reports about how deadly the virus was, and continued, relentless badgering over masks, social distancing, and by all means staying at home, we now know to what lengths government bureaucrats, public health officials and the media are willing to go to dress up the charade of the past year. Contrary to that propaganda, we now know from the reluctant CDC that the death toll from Covid-19 was less than 10,000, not the hundreds of thousands being reported by the media. We now know that there was no spike in over all deaths during the spring of 2020, nor at any time during 2020. In fact the over all deaths in the United States was nearly ten percent lower in 2020 than in the previous year. 2020 was the first time in ten years that the over all death number had declined. We also have learned that when our governor starts talking about basing his mandates on "science", there is no science to back up his claim. The current science disputes the ideas that mask wearing, social distancing, and staying at home has much to do with the transmission of Covid-19. In fact there is clear evidence that none of these precautions will in any way prevent the spread of the virus, nor slow the spread. The continued insistence that we will some how be "safe" from the virus by using these methods will largely depend on how small of a corner the powers to be and the media are willing to occupy. It should be plainly evident by those that are thinking that the virus is behaving much like the common flu has behaved for hundreds of years, except this virus appears to be far less deadly. We learned recently that the mortality rate for deaths FROM Covid-19 is well under a tenth of a percent. We know that masking, social distancing, and staying at home is far more deadly than Covid-19. We know that behaving as we have been mandated is catastrophic to our economic well being. We know that testing is highly unreliable. And finally we know that only a tiny fraction of those that are supposed to have contracted the virus are in any way inconvenienced. Since November we have two vaccines purported to solved all our imaginary problems. Many people have become convinced that a vaccine is a cure for the virus it was designed. This is not the case. Vaccines consist of a weakened or dead form of the virus itself. It is intended to be administered so the body will be infected with a mild form of the normal virus in order to stimulate the bodies' own defense mechanism. It is then the task of the bodies' defenses to neutralize the virus. It is another common misconception that a vaccine will work as intended over a predetermined period of time. For instance flu vaccines only seem to work at all about 40 to 60% of the time. Vaccines also are not immune to side effects that can become serious. We are now left with what has occurred over the last couple of months since both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been made available to the public. People who claim to know about vaccines will tell you that the new technology for developing the current vaccines have been in the works for decades and we do not need to worry about the speed with which both Pfizer and Modern developed the current vaccines. What they tend to gloss over is that the testing phase for this crop of vaccines was not done with humans, but pigs and therefore, the idea that the testing of these particular vaccines in such a limited fashion on humans over a short period should not be a concern. What is problematic about that statement is that there were problems during both Pfizer and Moderna's testing phase and the only 95% effective rate is also of some concern. When recent reports of wholesale refusal of medical staff in some facilities to take the vaccine, coupled with a growing number of poor to serious outcomes after being inoculated, an American public that was hesitant or refusing to take the vaccine when offered will be unlikely to be reassured that the vaccine is reliable and safe. This is particularly true when threats of forced vaccination by various levels of government have surfaced. What is truly unfortunate is that with all of the over hyped rhetoric in the media and the medical community, facts like those that struggled or die from Covid-19 are relatively rare. Those that might benefit from vaccination are also relatively rare. As we have done for centuries with a wide variety of viruses, those that live in fear of infections should exercise all precautions. Those that don't live in fear should be allowed to pursue life.