Here at ReOpen Bucks, we firmly believe that scientific observation supports the notion that COVID-19 hysteria has gone just a wee bit too far. We believe that shutdowns and other mitigation efforts are causing damage to individuals and society while failing to accomplish their intended purpose.
The Critical Distinction
Before we get into the nitty gritty of The Science™, we must first establish one critical distinction that will help everything else make sense. The distinction we must make is between the virus and the disease it causes.
- SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus
- COVID-19 is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests can be used to detect fragments of the virus, but they do not imply disease. Disease is always defined by symptoms, meaning that a COVID-19 diagnosis requires actual illness that has been caused by SARS-CoV-2.
Why is this distinction important? It’s important because the goal of public health should always be to minimize disease. The goal is not to control the virus; it’s to control the resultant disease. As we will show, several of the interventions that have attempted to control SARS-CoV-2 (the virus) have had minimal or even counter-productive effects on the spread of COVID-19 (the disease). As a society, we have become obsessed with the virus, to the point of disregarding whether or not we are actually reducing disease.
