Businesses that protect customers deserve thanks

it is difficult for small businesses to enforce masking rules – and expensive if they are to hire bouncers. larger businesses are less put upon, due the massive volumes of money that pour through. perhaps govt – which is us – will need to foot the bill for a bouncer for every business that has every right to be open (and, they all have very right to be open).
but, truly, how great are those masks? and still, anything goes…but even if we were mandated to wear only the nice blue paper “surgical” ones, the gold standard for the hoodwinked masses, how effective are they? i suggest to try wearing one while mowing the lawn and mulching leaves, and then have a look at what has collected on the white side. good thing covid particles are bigger than dust and dirt, eh?
meanwhile, here is a fact that can be checked: as of last week, over 1.6 million cdns had tested positive for covid over the past 1.5 years. wow! a pandemic unlike anything since spanish flu! but guess what? over 1.6 million cdns had also been deemed recovered from covid. i know, a miracle. how can near as many cdns have gotten covid that have recovered when it is a pandemic? is it by the grace of god that this pandemic is not a pandemic as 1.6 million covid cases includes1.6 million recovered cases?
of course, the narrative is to keep pounding the death numbers…about 28k “official” covid deaths as of last week. how, i wonder, is 28k deaths of a pop of 35 million over a 1.5 year span a pandemic? but here is the fuller reality: of those deemed to have died from covid, the great majority will have had other mitigating health issues. obesity and lack of exercise/healthy lifestyle would be just the tip of that iceberg; however, there are other mitigating heath issues that are less preventable (and i am not judging anyway, as each to their own is a right).
most profound is that about 17.5k of the deaths officially attributed to covid are in the 80+ bracket. hmm, what is the average lifespan of a cdn, i wonder? another 5.5k of such deaths came from 70+ folk. let me see now, 17.5k plus 5.5k…that is about 23k…so, about 23k of about 28k deaths are among society’s most aged who have other significant health issues who are past or near the average age of death.
5k covid attributed deaths, then, are found in the under 70 group, over 1.5 years of PANDEMIC! 5k deaths among the age sturdier…but even then, so many of those cases will have had comorbidities. PANDEMIC?!
to be fair, the vaxes may well have saved lives, and very likely, may have saved far more lives than “masks.” however, what each of those have in common is they should be choices, options: not enforcements, laws, or coercive measures. given the stats, vaxes are likely a good option for the 80 plus crowd, perhaps even the 70 plus crowd, and perhaps useful for anyone with health issues that might make covid more of an issue for them. you all have choices and should exercise them as you feel.
however, what kind of vaxes are these covid things that require everyone to HAVE to have them in order to work? are they that ineffective such that govt and a fearful society somehow gain the right to force-vax people who choose to take their chances with covid rather than pharm’s vaxes? even if these vaxes were so awesome that they made 100% everyone 100% impervious to all disease, govt nor society at large does not gain the right to determine what one ingests or does not ingest. govt nor society at large does not get to determine that there is one class of people that get full rights to work and socialise, while another does not. one has every right to speak well of vaxes, to take vaxes, but no one has the right to force one’s choice and opinion on another. not if we wish to define ourselves as a free society.