Sifting through the rubble of the COVID hysteria

As the incessant drumbeat of fear and chaos beat throughout the year, it was hard to sift through what was truthful and what was propaganda. One sure sign of unhingement was the utter contempt for dissenting views. Anyone who offered a different opinion or contrary perspective of the loud beat of what was deemed correct was quickly silenced and shamed for daring to do so.

We were repeatedly told to follow the science, the experts, and leaders, in any policy deemed for our safety. Schools, churches, and businesses needed to close. No sports, theater, concerts, or travel permitted. No gatherings for funerals, and on and on — after all, remember, the experts knew best.

But now, predictably, as we enter a new year, news is leaking out of just how inaccurate the experts were. One could argue knowingly or unknowingly, but regardless the result is the same.

Here is one of my favorite recent articles:

“Who (World Health Organization) Updates CCP Virus Test Guidelines, Cautions Against Over-Reliance on PCR Test.”

Although there is more to these articles than the headlines, and I encourage you to read them in their entirety, it is now being reported from the experts, the ones we were supposed to listen to, and have such confidence in, now are doing some backtracking. According to the experts, in both articles, positive cases were greatly exaggerated by the criteria being used and the new guidelines for testing could result in significantly fewer cases as well as deaths attributed to COVID.

Recently, when I read an article in the Daily Inter Lake that reported there had been zero flu cases reported in Flathead County this season, and that Flathead County, along with the rest of Montana has yet to confirm a single case of Influenza this year, I found this information unbelievable. Does that even seem plausible?

The article reports that in the previous year (pre-COVID) 1,000 cases a week were reported during peak season. In 2019 there were 11,255 cases, 514 hospitalizations and 41 deaths, but this year (COVID year) there are no flu cases reported in all of Montana. Not one!

The answer given to why this is apparently the case, is because of hand washing and social distancing.

Maybe an opposing point of view could be, as reported in the two previous articles mentioned above, that the criteria for positive results for COVID were so loose that it was easy to lump everything into the COVID pile.

So, as we sift through the rubble of the COVID hysteria, maybe we can step back and evaluate the situation. Let’s be less compliant to blindly follow the experts, especially now that we see they really were not experts at all. They have changed their minds (or narrative) even on how a COVID positive case should be counted. We should question and push back where we were misled by the media and question why there was such an overreaction when there was an opposing view. Those views were stifled, hidden, and not widely reported.

The drumbeat isn’t as loud as it was but is still continuing to beat. Are we going to continue to follow the drummer? It’s time to reflect and question what was being spoon fed to us. There seems to be an underlying agenda.

And as COVID cases go down, just remember that the testing directive has now been changed.

Teresa Farr lives in Columbia Falls.

[Editor’s Note: The original version of this letter published Feb. 20 referenced an article from RedState that has been retracted due to false claims about Covid fatality numbers.]