Scott Tibbs



New lockdowns are unjustifiable

By Scott Tibbs, August 9, 2021

The entire point of locking down the economy in March 2020 was to save lives and keep hospitals from being overwhelmed. We have done that. The vaccines for COVID-19 are here and they are a modern medical miracle. They are very effective against infection, and in the event of a "breakthrough" infection the odds of hospitalization or death are incredibly small. I got my shots in March and April of this year. Half of the population are immune to COVID-19 from the vaccines. Many unvaccinated people have natural immunity from a previous infection.

I defended lockdowns in 2020. There was a lot we did not know, and it was wise to pause and make sure intensive care units were not overrun and save as many lives as possible until we got a handle on what was going on. But there is simply no public health justification for another lockdown, which some totalitarians are whispering about now. Mask mandates are one thing: I chafe at wearing a face covering again, but that is more of an inconvenience than anything else. But I will resist a new shutdown in every way I can. I am not at risk of serious illness from COVID-19 and I am not at risk of spreading it to another vaccinated person.

Churches, which correctly submitted to quarantine orders in the spring and early summer of 2020, should refuse to comply with further restrictions on our First Amendment rights. They should hold services in defiance of quarantine orders, and dare the police to come arrest them and the congregation. Businesses and schools should similarly refuse to close, especially given the lockdown's devastating effect on education that put millions of children behind. With well over 160 million people vaccinated, we cannot inflict further economic destruction, violations of the First Amendment, and inevitable "deaths of despair" (alcoholism, suicide and drug overdoses) on the American people.

At this point, COVID-19 is a matter of individual responsibility. Those who have not been vaccinated should bear the responsibility for that decision. Forcing those who have taken the responsible step to protect themselves and their community to bear the costs of others' choices through another lockdown cannot be morally justified. We must stand up and say "no" to this tyranny, and we must throw out any elected official who refuses to rule out any more of this authoritarian nonsense.



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