Biblical and Constitutional Politics
Stay at Home Orders and Business Closures Do NOT Work
By Gary F. Zeolla
WCSI. Cuomo surprised most NY coronavirus hospitalizations are people who stayed at home
New York Times: ‘The People were at home’: Cuomo Details Surprising New Survey Results
“The majority of people who are still being hospitalized with the coronavirus across the state of New York are staying at home and are not essential workers, new data has revealed, prompting the questions of whether or not lockdown even works or for how much longer it will be necessary” (Daily Mail).
“Most new Covid-19 hospitalizations in New York state are from people who were staying home and not venturing much outside, a “shocking” finding, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday” (CNBC).
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday that 66 percent of the state’s new coronavirus patients were sheltering in place at home before seeking medical attention in hospitals, calling the statistic “shocking” (WCSI).
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said that a majority of coronavirus patients who were recently hospitalized were retired or unemployed (NYT),
“This is a surprise: Overwhelmingly, the people were at home,” Cuomo continued. “We thought maybe they were taking public transportation, and we’ve taken special precautions on public transportation, but actually no, because these people were literally at home” (Stillness).
Not “Money vs. Lives”
I have been saying since day one of the stay at home orders and business closures that they are idiotic. I predicted these draconian measures would destroy people’s lives, leading to increases in suicide and other self-destructive behaviors. That has proven to the case, as I document in my most recent extended article (see My Multi-Group Plan for Overcoming the Coronavirus Crisis: Part Four).
Then, as states began to open things up, many people, especially leftists, have been trying to couch it as “money vs. lives.” They have been claiming that people like me who want people to be able to leave their homes and go back to work care more about money than lives. That was never the case, as money and jobs are life. That is why, when you want to know what someone’s job is, you will ask them, “What do you do for a living?” The question is phrased that way, as we all know jobs mean life. It is how we put food on the table, clothes on our backs, and a roof over our heads.
Worse than Useless
But now we know the stay at home orders and business closures do not even save lives. They have proven to be worse than useless in that regard. All of those people the idiotic governors put out of work and were told to stay at home were NOT decreasing their risk of suffering adverse consequences from a Coronavirus (CV) infection. They were in fact increasing their risk of such.
I predicted this would be the case. The reason is, by forcing people to stay a home, it would lessen the strength of their immune systems, making them more likely to suffer adverse consequences if infected with the CV. Though I mostly focused on the closures of gyms and the deleterious health effects those stupid orders would have, just being forced to stay at home and not being able to go to work in itself worsened people’s health. As a result, the majority of people now being hospitalized due to a CV infection are those very people whose immune systems were weakened by the business closures and stay at home orders.
But it should be noted, “73% of the new hospitalizations were people aged 51 and over and 96% had underlying health conditions” (Daily Mail). As such, it still holds true that it is mostly the aged and those with preexisting health conditions who are most at risk of serious CV consequences. But the point is, closing businesses and forcing them to stay at home did not reduce that risk.
“But How ... ?”
Someone might ask, “But how did these people get infected if they were all staying at home?” The answer is simple—they have to eat. That means, they either had to venture out of their homes to buy food or they had it delivered. Either way, they exposed themselves to the virus. That is how I got infected with either the CV or the flu, as discussed in my article Different Perspective in Dealing with the Coronavirus.
That is the fatal flaw of stay at home orders. People have to eat. That means, they cannot totally isolate themselves from the outside world. We need to do our best to do so with those at high risk of serious CV consequences, such as nursing home residents, but for the rest, it is a useless endeavor.
However, getting infected is not the point. The point is, once infected, they suffered serious CV consequences. And their risk of doing so was increased by the stay at home orders and business closures weakening their immune systems.
But someone might ask, “But how do stay at home orders and business closures weaken people’s immune systems?” The answer is severalfold.
First, there is the stress of being out of work and bills piling up as a result.
Second, is the lack of exercise from gyms and other places to exercise being closed. For that matter, with not needing to go to work, they weren’t even walking to the subway station or bus stops. We know that, as 90% of these people said they had not used public transportation recently.
Third, boredom is leading many to binge eat junk food.
Fourth, stress is leading many to overdrink alcohol.
Stress, lack of exercise, junk food, and alcohol all deplete the immune system. I’ve have been saying that since day one. That is why these orders are so wrongheaded.
Again, my “plan” would have been to encourage people to engage in habits that boost the immune system. But the authorities have done the exact opposite with their stay at home orders and business closures.
Another excuse offered for this stat is that the people lied. They really did go out and use the subways, but they lied to their doctors and the researchers.
Think about that. Whenever they survey teenagers about their sexual activity, we are supposed to believe that no teenage boy would ever lie about the number of sexual partners he has had, but we are supposed to believe people will lie about using pubic transportation. Sorry, but 90% of people are not lying. They got infected because they had to eat. It’s as simple as that. But the authorities never took that basic human function into account when they issued their orders.
Conclusion
This is all so tragic, but also so predictable. It is only jerks like Cuomo who are “shocked” by these results. But rather than admitting his policies are wrong, Cuomo blames those who are suffering:
“Cuomo said it showed that the new infections were down to ‘personal behavior’ like not wearing masks or not hand washing enough… Gov. Cuomo said they were clearly becoming infected as a result of personal behavior, something that can’t be controlled by his lock-down” (Daily Mail).
No. What is “clear” is that stay at home orders and business closures do not work, never were a good idea, and should be stopped immediately.
Coronavirus Section
I know I keep saying I’m not going to write any more articles about the CV. But this study was just too important not to mention. And I wanted to post it as an article rather than as a Commentary, so that it would not be missed. And besides, this short article took less than an hour to write and post, as it is what I have been saying all along.
But still, I am done writing full length articles on the Coronavirus crisis, at least for a while. As such, I wanted to mention once again about the Coronavirus section of my politics website. It lists all of the articles I posted previously. If you missed any, they are all still relevant, so please check them out. They are listed in the order I wrote them, so the reader can follow the chronology of this crisis and of my thoughts thereupon.
My shorter Commentaries are also all listed on this page. Those I will continue to add to, so as to keep this section updated. But I just do not have the time or mental fortitude for any more full-length articles at this time. By the latter I mean, continually thinking about death and suffering, not to mention the stupidity of the authorities and the debates thereabout, is getting to me. And besides, I have other things I need to focus on right now.
Stay at Home Orders and Business Closures Do NOT Work. Copyright © 2020 by Gary F. Zeolla (www.Zeolla.org).
Tearing the USA Apart
From Kavanaugh, to
Incivility, to Caravans, to Violence, to the 2018 Midterm Elections, and Beyond
The United States of American is being torn about by political differences more than any time since the 1960s and maybe since the Civil War of the 1860s. This division was amplified by political events in the summer to fall of 2018. This time period could prove to be seminal in the history of the United States. This tearing apart came to the forefront and was amplified during the confirmation proceedings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. This book overviews the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation proceedings in detail. It then overviews these additional major events that occurred up to the end of November 2018.
The above article was posted on this website May 7, 2020.
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Biblical and Constitutional Politics