Omicron spreads. The media say, “Governments must act!”
Many have, bringing back mask mandates and closing schools.
Do these rules work?
No.
My new video shows why Florida’s approach is better.
Gov. Ron DeSantis ended pandemic restrictions last spring and refuses to impose new ones. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” he said. Lockdown states let “hysteria drive them to do really damaging things.”
The media hate him for saying things like that.
“Some governors are putting their own political gain ahead of children’s lives,” said CNN anchor Don Lemon.
If you watch most TV news, you’d think the rules, bans and shutdowns really save lives. Florida killed people because Florida didn’t impose tougher rules, we’re told.
“Florida leads the nation in new COVID cases,” says Action News in Tampa.
“Florida has the worst rate of coronavirus anywhere in the country!” rants “The Young Turks” host Cenk Uygur.
But it’s not true.
Florida has had fewer deaths than 16 other states.
Mississippi, Arizona, Alabama and New Jersey had the most deaths per capita. New York, where most TV anchors and I live, had the sixth most deaths.
Florida did better even though Florida has more high-risk old people.
What’s going on?
The media rarely just lie. Most simply cite Florida when deaths are high and ignore the state when deaths fall. They deceive by omission. Florida’s good numbers just don’t fit the reporters’ biases.
But even some pro-lockdown politicians know that less regulated Florida is no more dangerous than other states.
After Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez complained that “anti-shutdown people” are “spreading COVID all over the place,” she was filmed partying in Florida.
Two days after Rep. Eric Swalwell sneered that “Republican liars … prolonged” the pandemic … “your vacation cancelled,” he was photographed in Miami.
DeSantis laughs about this. “If I had a dollar for every lockdown politician who decided to escape to Florida over the last two years, I’d be a pretty doggone wealthy man.”
Fewer rules allow people to build better lives for themselves. Lack of shutdowns is one reason Florida’s unemployment rate is 4.5%, well below New York’s 6.6%.
Does this mean shutdowns and mask mandates are useless — and less regulated Florida has the answer?
No. We can’t say that. There’s no clear pattern.
Yes, strict mandate states like New York, New Jersey and Michigan have some of the worst death counts, but California had strict mandates and fewer deaths.
The one clear trend: Lockdowns don’t stop COVID-19, but they do destroy opportunity. California’s unemployment is the highest in America.
Florida did some bad things. DeSantis should pay more attention to his own pro-freedom speeches. Last year, he decreed that even private companies may not require customers or workers to be vaccinated.
Governor? They’re private companies! They should have the right to make their own decisions. It’s usually the totalitarian left that won’t let people set their own rules.
Aside from that nastiness, Florida’s COVID-19 policies are among the most sensible.
Since lockdowns won’t stop the virus, we must learn to live with it. Thanks to vaccines and new drugs that reduce COVID-19’s effects, now most of us can.
“We don’t have to upend human life in our quest to eliminate COVID … which can’t happen anyway,” says economist Don Boudreaux.
Giving up these laws is not “admitting defeat” but “admitting reality. We learn to live with COVID in the same way that we learn to live with many other pathogens. … One day, every one of us is going to be done in by something.”
That’s why I will vacation in Florida this week.
I’ll wear a mask if I’m in a crowd, but most of the time I won’t. It’s a joy to breathe freely.
I might catch omicron. But since I’m vaccinated and fit, I probably won’t die. I might even gain immunities that protect me in the future.
And anyway, “All of us will be done in by something.”
I choose to live free.
John Stossel is creator of Stossel TV and author of “Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media
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“I choose to live free.”
Nothing more be said.
Stossel really is dumb as a post. “Florida did some bad things. DeSantis should pay more attention to his own pro-freedom speeches. Last year, he decreed that even private companies may not require customers or workers to be vaccinated.
Governor? They’re private companies! They should have the right to make their own decisions. It’s usually the totalitarian left that won’t let people set their own rules.” Fuck you, Stossel. You would gladly lick that boot as long as it belong to Google or Blackrock or Amazon. Bought and sold POS.
3 downvotes. Brought to you by Google, Black Rock and Amazon. Seriously, you guys are mental insects. And just to get Stossel up to speed, DeSantis did not and restrictions last spring, he dropped it all in August 2020.
Exactly!
If private companies want to round up unvaccinated employees and confine them to camps, they should have the right to make that decision.
Talking about being dumb you win the contest Bozo.
‘The media rarely just lie’ – Stossel is a clown.
Did you go to clown school with him?
Stossel is just another globalist actor. His role: To make sure libertarians continue to believe there’s a virus.
Omicron = Common Cold
“Covid” was bullshit yesterday, today and tomorrow. Respiratory infections are not “covid”, covid, is a made up word for the flu. Pneumonia both viral and bacterial have been called “covid”. Time to stop the lies. Almost 8 thousand people die every day in America from all causes, based on total annual death stats. The whu who flu has not increased that.
You choose to live free? Yeah, sure thing John. The only thing that lets you enter certain establishments is the fact that you chose to submit and not live free when you took your shots.
Enjoy your 100 booster shots in order to keep that “freedom”.
“Some governors are putting their own political gain ahead of children’s lives,” said CNN anchor Don Lemon Yes, like Governor Hochul of NY , Gov Gruesome of CA, Gov Whitless of Michigan etc etc.
Stossel is retarded.
Governor? They’re private companies! They should have the right to make their own decisions. It’s usually the totalitarian left that won’t let people set their own rules”
Sorry, Johnnycakes, but private companies don’t have a right to force injections on their employees. They hired the people, they didn’t buy them at auction.