To the editor:

We need to question whether this is the pandemic we are being told it is. There have been multiple strains of flus and viruses that have come and gone in my lifetime that were as devastating as this one is. We did not panic. We did not demand nor declare an “Emergency Powers Act” be activated. We did not “shelter in place.” We did not “social distance.” We did not close churches, schools and colleges. We did not force businesses to close their doors. We did not cripple our economy.

Why is it that this time we have done all that and more? Is this particular virus more contagious, more deadly than all the rest? Were not the previous viruses just as dangerous to the elderly and those with weakened immune systems? The numbers are beginning to indicate that the survival rate among those who have been tested positive for having been infected is about the same as the survival rate of previous virus outbreaks.

No, I believe there is something else, something more sinister happening this time and it’s affecting our freedoms, liberties and our property rights. How much of what we have in our “Bill of Rights” in the Constitution have we lost so far? Thus far I see, parts of the 1st, 2nd, 4th 6th, 8th, 9th. More importantly, how much of what we have lost will we get back if, and when this pandemic is declared ended? From the way it looks, it may never come to an end.

Are the result of the limitations of these and other freedoms, liberties and property rights that have been imposed on us gong to remain limited? Is that the “New Normal” that is heading our way? Is that the result that you are going to want to live under and pass on to upcoming generations?

I, for one, want every bit of what I had before we were sucked into this “fear everything and everybody” epidemic. I will settle for nothing less!!!

Roger Baumann

Wabasso