There was only one "Second Wave" of any virus that even historians can remember. That was November 1918, Armistice Day, when the end of World War sent back troops infected with the H1N1 flu (wrongly called Spanish Flu then and Swine Flu in 1999). People who had until then been carefully wearing masks and keeping social distance until the War ended celebrated in the streets with a lot of careless hand shakes, hugging and kissing. They were right. Peace and freedom are worth a few risks.
In recent weeks, there has once again been a lot of crowded festivity in the streets, frequently accompanied by vandalism and arson, which gleeful young people describe as protests or occupation.
Oddly enough, this is not what the media worries about when warning of another November 1918 Armistice Day Second Wave. They worry much more about free people who, working with their elected representatives, decided it was about time to switch from mandatory social distancing to voluntary common sense. Time to set aside or ignore Governors' capricious, unlegislated "executive orders" and treat potentially fed-up voters like adults.
When warning ominously of a great flood of death and destruction about to engulf us in the Great Second Wave, the media's favorite example is Florida. That may be because the state handled nursing home risks infinitely better than New York and New Jersey (among many other states). Or it may be because the Governor of Florida happens to be affiliated with a politically-incorrect Party.
When you read this sort of hysterical news about a #SecondWave descending on #Florida like a second Black Death, ignore what they say about "more cases" (which could easily be stopped with less testing) and focus instead on the 7-day trend (black line) of new hospitalizations and death per day.
Most Floridians are now virutally free to shop where we like, get our hair cut or styled, go to the beach, work out at the gym and eat and drink indoors at a restaurant or bar. We can even go to work at a business other states' Governors deem "inessential." Florida is a free state within a country that has recently been less free, and faced with less security of private property rights, than at any time since WWII rationing or perhaps Nixon's wage and price controls.
Look for yourself at the graphs of Florida 's COVID-19 daily hospitalization and deaths.
Do you see some frightening exponential rise in hospitalizations or death since the lockdown and stay-home orders ended? Can you even tell, without coaching, which days were before the reopening and which was after?
If you look hard you can see that the very last day on the charts (yes, just 1 day) looks higher than the previous 2-5 days. Can you guess which single day was considered worthy of headline news? Does one day (or even 7) really look like a runaway trend?
Who are you going to believe?
The New York Hard Times and Washington Pest or your own lyin' eyes?
