No, Spadea (is pretty sure he) doesn’t have coronavirus (Opinion)

Every year, I take two weeks off in the summer to spend time with my family and friends. The best part of the past couple weeks is I shut down my phone and skip all the chaos on social media. Morning show Producer Kristen let me know that several people called during my absence thinking that I had coronavirus. I don’t. Although I haven’t taken a test for the virus nor have I taken the anti-body test, so I guess I should say, I am not a confirmed case.

Of course as I’ve been saying for months now, the tests are only a snapshot in time and have no bearing on general public health. You can relax. First of all, the tests themselves, specifically for antibodies, may be inaccurate FIFTY PERCENT of the time! And that’s according to the CDC. Beyond that, the scare from waves of positive tests in states like Florida are in many cases skewed because negative tests are under-reported.

The real challenge is that politicians have been moving the goal posts since the pandemic started. First it was all about “flattening the curve”, then we were told to “stop the spread”. At first, these goals seemed to make sense when put into the context of making sure we had enough capacity to treat the sick and offer beds for those who were critical. To paraphrase a former President, ’mission accomplished.' That’s right, we did it. We stayed home and the virus peaked in April and then dissipated. Policy makers will have years to sort out whether the shut down, stay-at-home orders and other government restrictions actually had the intended impact, but here we are.

Since the pandemic peaked in April, we are now almost in August and we’re being told to stay socially distant and mask up. Why? If we slowed the spread enough to make sure that we now have mostly open hospitals, why are we continuing to act as if other humans are somehow toxic? If we look at the real numbers in Florida, the hospitalization situation is pretty much on par with an average month in the Sunshine State. Here’s the pull quote:

The director of infection prevention at UF Health in Jacksonville, Chad Neilsen, told News4Jax this level of occupation in ICUs is not uncommon.

“It’s all very flexible and fluid depending on the patient scenario in our hospital,” Neilsen said. “We probably run on average about 70% ICU occupied anyway. During the winter, most hospitals are running closer to 80 to 85% ICU occupancy. So the numbers can fluctuate quite a bit.” - www.news4jax.com

So why the constant drum beat for masks and distance? In my opinion, it’s all about control. If you remain scared and dependent on government to save you then the government can justify just about any tax raising, liberty limiting action they desire. In New Jersey, that’s exactly what they’re doing. Look at the fact that in South Dakota they had a spectacular July Fourth fireworks display with thousands on hand, not masked and not socially distant, and no discernible ‘spike’ in disease. So we have concrete evidence that the masks are essentially ineffective among the general public and even if there is a so-called spike in disease, coronavirus is simply not going to negatively impact most people.

The virus is not as deadly as the politicians want you to think. Remember, fear is the main driver here. The risk they are trying to force you to avoid is a positive coronavirus test. But why? We know who the vulnerable people are and we know that most people even if sick, will be fine. We also know that kids are nearly risk-free when it comes to the deadly nature of the disease. We also know that asymptomatic people RARELY spread the virus and infect others. We also know that casual contact in public, inside or outside, especially that is not sustained for a continued period or in confined quarters, is safe for most humans.

Why then the public masking and continued shut down on healthy people? Seems the actions of your government have nothing to do with public health and everything to do with increasing the power of the corrupt bureaucrats who currently occupy Trenton.

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.

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