I have gotten my two COVID-19 shots. Like a great many Americans, I decided to risk getting jabbed with a still experimental vaccine. Why? For personal reasons, I decided that the benefit was worth the risk. Do I think everyone should make the same choice? No. Everyone has the right to consider their own circumstances and to make their own choice.

Unfortunately, we now have the Delta variant of the virus first discovered in India, and lots of people are in a panic. So, I wondered. What should I do? Do I need to go back to wearing a mask?

The so-called mainstream news media is not very helpful. These people are not on our side. Why not?

• They make their money by scaring us.
• They are owned by massive corporations run by crony capitalists.

Take this New York Times article, Vaccinated People May Spread the Virus, Though Rarely, C.D.C. Reports – The New York Times (nytimes.com). The article focuses on this CDC story, Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Including COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections, Associated with Large Public Gatherings — Barnstable County, Massachusetts, July 2021 | MMWR (cdc.gov). What is that story all about?

In July 2021, following multiple large public events in a Barnstable County, Massachusetts, town, 469 COVID-19 cases were identified among Massachusetts residents who had traveled to the town during July 3–17; 346 (74%) occurred in fully vaccinated persons. Testing identified the Delta variant in 90% of specimens from 133 patients. Cycle threshold values were similar among specimens from patients who were fully vaccinated and those who were not.

Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Including COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections, Associated with Large Public Gatherings — Barnstable County, Massachusetts, July 2021 | MMWR (cdc.gov)

Sounds serious, right? According to the following article (which that New York Times linked to), COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Cases Are Extremely Rare, According to KFF State Data Analysis | KFF.

Frankly, The New York Times article was a joke. Look at the statistics from the Barnstable County. Observe that Provincetown is in Barnstable County.

Now for the real story, as told by Robert Stacy McCain in the American Spectator: “Provincetown is to gay men what Mecca is to Muslims, and the annual week-long gathering of thousands … who pack into crowded bars immediately follows the Fourth of July holiday,” Mr. McCain wrote. “So this ‘Cape Cod beach outbreak,’ to use the euphemism of that ABC News headline, was atypical to say the least, and certainly a poor test case to justify inflicting renewed mask mandates on the entire nation.”   

The COVID-19 rise of deception and tyranny

Imagine the surprise. Disease spreading among gay men. Who would have expected that?

There has been no shortage of news about COVID19.

• The scientific case against masks
• How Dangerous Is the Delta Variant, and Will It Cause a COVID Surge in the U.S.? – Scientific American
• How dangerous is the new Delta Plus variant? Here’s what we know. (nationalgeographic.com)
• CDC says delta variant more vaccine-resistant than previously thought – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
• Delta variant: What to know about symptoms, vaccines and testing (tennessean.com)
• CDC: COVID Delta Variant May Spread as Easily in Vaccinated as Unvaccinated | Voice of America – English (voanews.com)
• 5 Things To Know About the Delta Variant > News > Yale Medicine
• In internal document about COVID-19 vaccines and delta variant, CDC says “the war has changed” – CBS News
• Vaccines alone can’t stop the COVID-19 Delta variant: study (nypost.com)
• Covid Updates: Florida Gives Parents Final Say on Masks for Children – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Some of the news sources/references are better than others. Some are fear porn. Some provide a relatively logical arrangement of facts. Before we panic, we need to do some research.

Think! What is the goal of the people who provide us information? Altruism? Is it not more likely that most of the information provided to us is designed to get us to something we might not wish to do if we knew the whole truth?

We need to put COVID-19 in perspective. Relative to other threats, it is not that dangerous, but the reporting on that topic provides a good indication of the people who wish to manipulate us.