Letter: Mask ordinance is attempt to take away liberty and freedom
I write to voice my displeasure with Sumter's recently passed "mask ordinance" and my opposition to same. I have experienced bad government in my life, but this one ranks near the bottom. I am going to reference sources in this letter and include them at the bottom, but brevity demands that I be concise.
COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and deaths attributed to it, are on the decline for the week ending June 27, 2020. Nationally, levels of "influenza-like illness (ILI) and COVID-19-like illness (CLI) activity" remain lower than peaks seen in March and April of this year. Source, Centers for Disease Control, July 3, 2020, with the corresponding link below. But, in reality, when you swath with such a broad brush and include "influenza like" and "COVID-19 like" in a catchall manner, that could account for almost anything. For instance, the common cold, which carries the same antibodies as COVID-19, and could be resulting in all the "false positive" tests.
In the May 28, 2020, edition of Forbes, the Centers for Disease Control stated that "less than half" of two positive COVID-19 antibody tests are correct. Read that again. Now, I'm not a physician, but to me that sounds like the CDC is stating over half the tests are false positives.
And, speaking of physicians, I had a doctor's appointment this past week. Out of respect and admiration for my doctor, I will not divulge his name. But we are close, and he confided to me, during our appointment, that a week ago Friday, he admitted a terminally ill cancer patient into the hospital. Sadly, that patient passed away the following Monday. However, my doctor was not the attending physician when his patient died. And, lo and behold, the terminal cancer did not kill him, it was, you got it, COVID-19.
Masks are just so asinine. I look around (I refuse to wear one), and I see fellow citizens scared like sheep. Have any of you ever had or known anyone who has had pink eye or a stye on their eye? If you have, well, those are viral infections. Putting a mask on your face does not cover your eyes. This is simply just an attempt to see how much freedom and liberty can be taken away from you before you will say enough. And you people are letting them do so, lock, stock and barrel. I don't care what your politics are; this is a great summation, and it comes from Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She posted it on Twitter May 13, 2020:
"It is not the government's job to protect my health. It's the government's job to protect my Constitutional Rights. It's my job to protect my health. When you trade liberty for safety, you end up losing both."
So, Sumter government. Repeal this ridiculous ordinance. If my fellow citizens wish to be sheep, I will not stand in their way. By all means, let them do so and wear their masks. Some children, when they were young, liked security blankets or pacifiers too. However, quit forcing yourself, and your misguided beliefs, upon me, when there is nothing to back it up but the leftist media garbage. It is precisely for such reasons that I no longer watch television. I think Sumter government should also cease watching television when it comes to passing laws that infringe upon freedom and liberty.
MIKE ARDIS
Sumter