By Samuel Strait – November 20, 2020 Just this past week, I learned from the Lost Coast Outpost, an Eureka online narrative dressed up to appear to carry the news, that World Health Organization data is just spam. I also learned from the same source that the Centers for Disease Control here in the United States is also a purveyor of spam. The European Union Center for Disease Control, several public health departments of the states Wisconsin, California, South Dakota, and Michigan, multiple studies done on the effectiveness of mask wearing, and three eminent epidemiologists from Stanford, Harvard, and Oxford Universities are also guilty of spam. Of course the censors at the Lost Coast Outpost are nothing but products of what passes for journalism in this country for some time now. It is small wonder that journalists no longer have the trust of the American public. Fortunately, for those that chose to be informed, there are many other places to go for objective news.The point being to all of this is, after eight months of lock downs, social distancing, masks, hand washing, closed national borders, draconian limits on gatherings (with the exception of "peaceful" protesting), holiday cancellations, and on and on, yet some place at the beginning of all of this we were assured that this "pandemic" would come under control, and it would save lives. Thus far the virus has not been controlled, we continue to have outbreaks, our economy is in tatters, far more people have died from the measures mandated by our state governments to protect us from the virus than from the virus itself. So, a thinking person might just ask why do we continue to heed those that insist we continue with these government mandates that do not do what we are continually being told? Why should we have any faith whatsoever in health measures that clearly do not work? Why should we continue to believe public health officials, news commentators, talking head "medical experts" on TV, and our politicians when it has become painfully evident after eight months that all of these measures we are being forced to accept, DO NOT WORK? Just in the past couple of months CDC's data has revealed that 70% of those that test positive for the Corona virus claim to have worn masks, social distanced and washed their hands as mandates suggest. A further 17% claim to follow the mandates most of the time. Only 4% of those testing positive claim that they do not follow the mandates at any time. Beyond that in early October, the CDC stated quite clearly that only about 6% of the 250,000 deaths claimed to have been from Covid 19 were in fact Covid deaths. All others recorded were more likely to have occurred from one or more serious health issues. Several state public health departments have reported similar numbers. The WHO now puts then mortality rate at 0.13% only slightly above the rate for the common flu. With the continued reporting of increased numbers of infections, and relatively few hospitalizations and deaths, that mortality rate is sure to go down to an even lower number. Along with the continued news that the virus isn't any here near as lethal as we have been lead to believe, there have been enormous strides taken in how to mitigate the effects of the virus should it become serious. Older patient are seeing much better survival rates even if they find themselves hospitalized. Children and younger people are finding the virus to be a non issue, with very few serious outcomes. Back to numbers, a number of recent studies have produced results that seriously cast doubt on the effectiveness of masks as a preventative, and whether it can be any aid to prevent transmission to others. Masks historically were used to prevent bacteriological infections, a whole different world when compared to viruses. Masks, even surgical and m95 masks were never meant to contain viruses, many times smaller in size than bacteria. There are no numbers regarding the six foot social distancing as there is a complete lack of science behind "social distancing". As far as isolation in an otherwise healthy community, there is no science behind the lock downs. Historically, quarantines were reserved only for those that were sick. Current policies that include lock downs, stay at home orders, and enforced isolation have been studied recently and conclude that they all are far worse than nothing at all. Deaths from murder, domestic violence, crime, drug over doses, suicides, far exceed the number of virus deaths being reported, and exceed the death rate of Covid 19 exponentially if the CDC's 6% of those deaths turn out to be a much more accurate figure. Since the first three and a half weeks of Corona virus numbers at the end of March through the middle of April most states have experienced at least two, some three surges in infections, but hospitalizations and deaths have remained static. States in the upper Midwest have only had an increase in Covid infections in October/November and did not have a surge last spring. California, a state that has experienced draconian mandates from our Governor, has recently ordered most of its counties back into a severely restrictive state when those measures have done nothing to slow the progression of the virus. Testing has revealed an up tick in cases here in Del Norte County, 55 active cases, ZERO HOSPITALIZATIONS. Meanwhile in Europe where some of the most draconian measures have taken place, after several surges in infections, Germany, France, Spain, and the UK all have similar metrics to the effect of the virus as those in Sweden where NO MANDATES have been put in place. So if this news has somehow escaped the notice of the news giants in this country, why is it we continue to hear on the nightly news the scary mantra that we remain at risk of catastrophe when it has become pretty clear that it is not the case? Has the media, "medical experts", our public servants, big tech, big pharma, and our professional class invested so much in a false narrative that they cannot back away? Finally, coming from both a science and history of science background it has always been a mystery as to just how medical science developed so quickly in less than two months as to be able to make pronouncements about a new virus that eight months later are still up for discussion. Why after eight months do we hear "medical experts" announce with utter conviction about things that experts who actually have expertise with viruses roundly dispute? Then there is the recent news that we have two vaccines that have FDA approval and two more nearing that state. I am not familiar with medical science having found a cure for any virus after hundreds of years of trying. I am also not aware of any vaccine being more than roughly 40% to 60% effective, after spending years in development. So, how is it that after being told for the past eight months that lockdowns, masking, social distancing, hand washing, testing, contact tracing and now the anticipated mass distribution of one or more vaccines that we are meant to feel comfortable that life will return to normal when the mass media, our public health officials, politicians, and it appears one local fisherman that it could be years before all is right with the world?