Coronavirus clampdowns begin anew

OPINION:

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, has ordered residents beginning this Friday to wear masks in public, even when social distancing is possible, and to stay at home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. — including certain business owners who normally operate during those hours.

The clampdowns are only going to grow worse in the coming months.

And if it’s Democrat Joe Biden who takes the White House in January — as it’s increasingly appearing to be the case — then these clampdowns will be nationwide and long-lingering. Biden is the guy who said his coronavirus mitigation plan was to listen to the scientists, and the scientists he’s listening to all suggest more closings, more stays-at-home, more masks, all the time masks. More government-imposed mandates.

But in Massachusetts: Baker, via executive powers, ordered restrictions on the numbers of people who could gather, both indoors and out, and specified that the 10 allowed to get together inside and the 25 allowed to congregate outdoors must all go home by 9:30 p.m.

The restrictions come as case counts continue to rise in the state.

But here’s the question that’s never adequately answered: What’s the big deal about case counts?

The only numbers on the coronavirus that actually matter are the numbers of those who contract the virus versus die from the virus versus recover from the virus. Case counts only give a look at those who test positive — without the all-necessary contextual look at what happens to these people after they test positive.

After all, if 100 people test positive for the coronavirus, and all 100 people suffer absolutely zilch in terms of adverse health issues from the coronavirus, well then, that means the virus is about as alarming as the common cold.

Case counts, by themselves, are meaningless.

And yet this is the number that’s being used to justify more and more crackdowns on individual freedoms in this country.

With cold weather coming, with Democrats gaining in political power, with quasi-science and shaky statistical interpretations and with medical bureaucrats seemingly in charge of dictating policy — prepare for the restrictions. Forecast 2021: an America in absolute stall mode.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.