New Jersey loses again while Texas wins BIG

Welcome to Day 353 of 15 to stop the spread.

Texas and Mississippi join the now 16 states which have lifted the absurd and scientifically proven useless mask mandates. Sadly governors like Gavin Newsom (California) and Phil Murphy continue to play politics with people’s lives.

There is ample evidence that in mask mandate areas, COVID cases were in fact higher. Also plenty of evidence that in open states, many which have been open for several months, the virus dissipated the same way it did in lockdown/mask-up states.

The health crisis, defined by the experts as "overwhelmed hospitals", never happened. Given what we now know, and what we knew by late April 2020, lockdowns and masking should have ended by May of last year. But here we are.

We know that most people in the U.S. have either already had coronavirus or have immunity from a prior illness. Actually, according to one of the top docs at Johns Hopkins, we'll hit herd immunity in April. Dr. Marty Makary points out that more than 200 million Americans have likely already had coronavirus and 55% of the country has natural immunity.

Given the fact that there is no spike in states which have opened, and hospitals remain at expected seasonal capacity, why is the entire nation not open? How can New Jersey and New York continue to justify masking and isolation? How can any credible person justify anything less than 100% capacity for venues and restaurants?

The science is perfectly clear. COVID is over. It'll be back, of course; seasonal viruses tend to do that. But for now and going forward, we know that a combination of smart hygiene, healthy living and simple treatments like hydroxychloroquine will keep most people healthy and out of the hospital.

Knowing that the only truly vulnerable group are elderly people who are already afflicted with a serious comorbidity. As the smart scientists and doctors who wrote and signed the Great Barrington Declaration, including Dr. Martin Kulldorf from Harvard Medical School have said, "focused protection" of the most vulnerable should be our public policy going forward. Everybody else? Back to work, back to school, back to normal.

Question is, would New Jersey residents return to normal if we had a governor who stopped playing crisis actor?

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.