COVID: Let's take a quick test

Rules are for those who do not know how to make their own. In lieu of a mandate I challenge each of us to take a simple multiple-choice test.

First, some pertinent information: 1) The health care system in our area is at capacity; 2) Kootenai County has an approximate population of 166,000; 3) Kootenai County has recorded over 6,100 cases of COVID-19 (that’s 3.67% of the county population); 4) things that help reduce the rate of transmission of COVID-19 are a) social distancing (remember the native Americans were not affected by smallpox until the Europeans came over to party), b) masks (not cute but help), and c) vaccines (not here yet but promising); 5) things that increase COVID-19 transmission a) close connections which allow aerosols to be passed between persons, b) crowded and uncontrolled gatherings, and c) underlying health conditions.

Here is the test:

A) I have not heard about the above facts (I’m ignorant).

B) I don’t understand the situation and how the transmission rate of COVID-19 affects our health care system (my two cranial neurons do not synapse cognitively).

C) I don’t care about our a) health care system which includes cancer, trauma, child bearing and other categories; b) schools; and c) business that are straining to remain viable (I am a whining egotistical jerk looking for a super spreading event to vent my needing government to make the rules that I cannot figure out for myself).

D) I do what I can to reduce COVID-19 transmission without government mandates (I have compassion and I don’t flaunt my own health invincibility).

There is only one good answer for each of us, which one describes you?

Remember the GOVERNMENT IS US. And we (the government) should only make rules (policies, laws, ordinances, codes, etc.) when we (as individuals) don’t know how to make our own. Government rules are not flexible enough to fit every situation. So let’s do our part to lessen the impact of a pandemic we did not ask for and not have the Government write up rules that need tweaking, changing, updating and eliminating after this pandemic has run its course.

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Vern Newby is a Hayden Lake resident.