Late one evening years ago, I stepped outside and was greeted by a police officer kneeling beside his car with his gun drawn. He told me to get back in the house, and I complied with his excellent suggestion. This was a real emergency. I learned later that one of my neighbors was unwell and had brandished a gun.
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The police finished their work and life returned to normal.
At first, I felt the same urgency about COVID-19. The state emptied hospitals of elective medical procedures and set up temporary hospitals in school gymnasiums. Warned about disruptions in services and shortages, I stocked up on clean water, pasta sauce, canned meat and toilet paper for the coming apocalypse, and hunkered down to watch sappy TV commercials and videos about handwashing.
Six weeks after NH Governor Chris Sununu issued his stay-at-home order, there’s no sign of our immediate annihilation. The makeshift overflow hospitals are empty and our regular hospitals are bleeding money because of lack of business. We’ve had 60 deaths, comprising 0.00004412% of the state population. NH’s COVID-19 deaths don’t even chart on top annual causes of death in NH, the first three being cancer 2,760, heart disease 2,721, and accidents, 907. Yes, we border a state with one of the highest death rates from COVID-19 in the US; but the 3,153 deaths in Massachusetts comprise only 0.00048154% of their population.
As summer approaches, now would be a good time for officials to consider whether we overreacted and fast-track a few common-sense measures to open businesses, schools, and sports. Instead, we’re doubling down on draconian executive mandates that isolate us from friends, family, and many of the activities that make life worth living.
These safety measures seem to perversely target anyone who appears to be having fun getting fresh air and exercise. On the nightly news, we see Barney Pfeiffer chasing surfers on otherwise empty beaches, local governments closing seaside parking lots so that no one can park and look at the ocean, the US Forest Service shutting down trailheads to the vast and empty Pemigewasset Wilderness and closing private golf courses. We’re told to hike locally, but some conservation lands are off-limits.
Sununu’s measures also empower bureaucrats to tell you what’s essential – Target, Popeye’s, and liquor stores – and what’s non-essential -you’re aunt’s funeral, your friend’s wedding, your daily trip to the gym, and your weekly church services.
Which is more important to us, freedom or safety? Our forefathers answered that question many times by crossing the ocean, settling the wilderness, braving a horrible smallpox pandemic while rebelling against the British, giving their lives to end slavery and segregation, and defending us from fascism and terrorism. When did we become sheep who panic at every threat and expect the state to rescue us with money they steal from our grandchildren?
Enough is enough. Let’s reopen the state.
