There are voices out there now that claim that “wearing a mask is living in fear” and similar assertions. Others proclaim their rights are being infringed upon. Whatever happened to the old “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” policy we had no problem with in grocery stores in the olden days? If I ran a store, I’d put up a sign that says “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Mask, No Service” and be done with it.

I wear a helmet when I ride a motorcycle. Heck, I wear a helmet when I ride my bicycle. I wear a helmet when I go rock climbing. I wear a seatbelt when I drive a car. None of those self-protection measures have ever had me cry that my freedom is lost. Of course, I still freak out when I travel in Ohio and people ride motorcycles without a helmet. Any old idiot on the road can not see you on the motorcycle, and hitting your head on the pavement at 60 miles an hour with just your jaw and teeth to protect you is not a pleasant thought.

In our country, we now have 2.4 million people identified positive for Covid-19. We have 125,000 people dead due to Covid-19. That is a horrifically high death rate of 5% for a disease if you catch it. Since older people are much more vulnerable, the death rate is even much higher. I am over 60.

I have done rock climbing. I have done skydiving. I have ridden motorcycles on the highway. None of these activities are even within a factor of 1000 close to the death rate of Covid-19.

And worse, if you survive the disease after weeks in ICU, you have a 7-figures hospital bill.

So if I can wear a mask at the grocery store and give myself a slightly better chance not to catch this bug, I will take it.

I am not living in fear, but I am not very interested in dying, or having a million dollar hospital bill ruin the rest of my life.

Interestingly, we had a slight bending of the curve that gave me some hope, but it looks like the fear of living in fear and the aversion to lack of freedom with a mask is turning it the other way again:

This graph does not show the infection rate of a country that is conquering this virus.

Darwinian effects will quickly take care of this “living in fear” argument, but in the meantime, we’re prolonging the agony of a country shut down, we’re burning out our doctors and nurses, and we’re keeping the economy on a life support system.

If you think living in fear is bad, try going on like this for another few months, after the hospitals finally do run out of capacity.

Where do you go?