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My tagline has been the same since June of last year.

And providing people with factual information enables them to prepare for the future, which reduces anxiety and fear. It also inoculates them against the fearmongering coming from both sides. Blowing smoke up peoples’ butts doesn’t prepare them and leads only to more fear when the fantasy bubble bursts and the reality of the situation sets in.

Fact is, this virus kills 0.65% of infected persons across the population, but primarily focused on older and less healthy persons. We do have effective - but imperfect - treatments; namely the multiple monoclonal antibody therapy products now available. President Trump received one when he was hospitalized with COVID-19. They work well for many, but are not a cure-all for everyone. The most effective tools we have against the virus are the vaccines developed and produced with the help of President Trump’s administration. Most of the country is getting them now, particularly older folks who are most at risk for serious complications from COVID-19. Those vaccines provide significant (not perfect, but close) protection against COVID-19, including against infection and transmission.

The pandemic is over in Israel, where they vaccinated most of their population already. It’s ending here in the US very soon. There was never a reason to be fearful or panic, nor to bring the economy to a halt. There was every reason to prepare defenses against this virus and put sensible policies in place to limit its transmission and protect the most vulnerable people. State and local governments failed miserably at that job. Their failures resulted in many unnecessary deaths. But that’s mostly behind us at this point as we near the end of the pandemic.

That’s not banging the fear drum; that’s acknowledging reality and dealing with the reality in a rational manner.