It's never far from anyone's lips.

"So, do you think we are shutting down again?" "Think we need to mandate masks?" "You should need your vaccine passport to leave the house!" "Why do you want to kill Grandma?"

The fear of the coronavirus' new Delta variant is the hot topic on everyone's minds, and while everyone has an opinion (and are almost always correct in their own world), this next wave of Covid-mania is causing people to, in this writer's opinion, do dumb crap again and panic needlessly.

(WARNING: INDEPENDENT AND DANGEROUS THOUGHT AHEAD)

Mask mandates are being issued by those without any authority to do so, businesses are requiring vax cards for entry, and politicians on both sides of the issue are fueling clueless TV talking points. All while sheeple on the left and right lap up and parrot any information that they can if it drives their own personal beliefs.

Just STOP already.

We hear statistic after statistic that will spin the story any way we wish, but one stat stands out above the rest. The one that shows that the fear far outweighs the actual data.

City Of Lubbock
City of Lubbock
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Wednesday (August 11th, 2021), the City of Lubbock reported 237 new cases of Covid-19 in the county. While that was up from what we had at this time last year (when Covid-19 hadn't really ramped up yet), it still sits far behind the height of our panic, when on any given day, nearly 700 new cases were being reported. Plus, there are only 2,600 active cases in the entire county. That's 1 percent of the population.

Plus, yesterday, 1 new death was reported from Covid-19. One.

So, is it worth pausing your life again? Nope. Not even close. 99 percent of the population is healthy, so why punish everyone? I'm not a scientist, but I'm going to live my life as normal. I've had Covid-19 before, didn't bother me in the least, and I'm not afraid. If you want to wear a mask, a lead suit, or stay in your basement for life, knock yourself out, that's your prerogative, But you have no right to tell me how to live my life. If I get it, I get it. That's my worry. My kids are going to school, I'm going to work, and we're living normally, taking care of us. If you don't want it, stay home or wear your mask or get the shot if you want to. I really don't care, and you are not my problem.

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Besides, as Governor Abbott said, there are no mandates because we believe in PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.  If you'd rather someone else make decisions for you, then you really can't call yourself "free."

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.

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READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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