Is Louisiana’s New COVID Panic Warranted?

Earlier this year, the state of Louisiana reached the three year mark of Governor John Bel Edwards issuing his initial COVID-19 emergency declaration. That declaration would remain in place, renewed over and over, for over two years. We wouldn't see it come to an end until late-March in 2022.

In hindsight, we've learned a lot about what experts got wrong and what the repercussions of those misses brought.

So what have we learned? Honestly, a lot. We learned a lot about each other, a lot about the absolute power relatively unknown bureaucrats can grab in the right moment, and how much the people we trust don't actually know. Just look at all of the things that the "experts" were absolutely certain about 30 months ago, that the average person knows to be untrue now.

Look at what we witnessed with large and powerful companies, and the speed they will buckle to particular politicians. We also found out that as bad as we think the pharmaceutical industry is, its actually far...FAR...worse.

Because a lot of the "conspiracy theories" from the last two years are no longer conspiracies. Something you could have been labeled a "racist" for, and banned from social media, is now the opinion of multiple Federal Government bodies. That includes the FBI.

But what are we doing with all of this information? Apparently, ignoring it.

Over the last few weeks, the same experts who missed badly over the last three years are once again sounding their alarms. Thankfully they're not as loud this time, but they're still out there banging their war drum in an effort to raise pharmaceutical stocks.

Yes, the stock market might have a lot to do with what's coming next. One of the loudest voices right now is former FDA Chair Scott Gottlieb. He's been making the rounds on cable news shows to "express is concerns" about COVID again. But everyone should really take what he says with a grain of salt, since he's a board member for Pfizer...one of the biggest COVID treatment and vaccine makers. His COVID push directly relates to the amount of vaccine sold, and therefore how much his company is worth.

So lets look at what's happening now.

You will see headlines that say things like "COVID in hospitals up 19% in a week", which might sound scary, but they're hoping you don't read past the headline. The 19% increase might be 1 person in every 100,000 based on the real numbers. But saying that doesn't scare you into paying for a vaccine.

We also must keep in mind that COVID hospitalization numbers don't mean what you think it means. Since the beginning, we haven't been measuring the amount of people hospitalized BECAUSE OF COVID, but instead anyone in the hospital who happens to test positive for COVID. Even if they're asymptomatic and have a broken leg, they count. Even if they've been in the hospital for 2 weeks because of a stomach issue, are asymptomatic, and test positive AFTER they've been in the hospital for 2 weeks, they count.

On top of ALL of this, nearly everyone has some form of protection against COVID now. People have been vaccinated or exposed, which provides them protection. Additionally, the mutations since 2021 have all decreased the overall severity of the virus. Most people get cold symptoms, and even departments of health across the country are no longer pushing isolation. Many are prescribing cold medicine for many people.

Now of course, if you're an at-risk individual, you should take all the precautions you would during a heavy flu season. Get boosters if you'd like, throw your masks on, and avoid places that make you uncomfortable.

But if you're a healthy person, especially under the age of 60, there's literally nothing to worry about. You run the same risk of getting any other deadly disease as you do having a deadly bout with COVID.