Once the Democrats stopped calling President Trump xenophobic for taking the Wuhan virus seriously and started taking it seriously themselves, they instantly began to weaponize the virus. The first line of weaponization, of course, was to criticize Trump non-stop, even as he did everything that Fauci, their favorite expert, told him to do, and did it well and fast.

The second line of attack was to use the virus to destroy the economy, which had been Trump’s strength for reelection. That’s why the promised two-week shutdown “to bend the curve,” quickly morphed into the seemingly permanent closure of large parts of the economy (even as Democrat governors presided over the slaughter of the elderly).

Democrats lost sight of the virus ball when Black Lives Matter used George Floyd’s death as their moment to use mass violence to advance their agenda, all the while shaking down corporate America. When it came to the corporate shakedowns, it helped that America’s businesses are heavily staffed at the management level with college graduates who have already been indoctrinated with the Marxist ideas underlying the BLM movement.

With the BLM agenda firmly in place, Democrats are returning their attention to the Wuhan virus that, not-so-coincidentally, surged after tens of thousands of mostly-unmasked people gathered all over America to protest and riot. The first order of business was to deny that the protests had anything to do with increased virus outbreaks (see, e.g., this risible article). The next order of business was to take advantage of the fact that the Trump administration, which had loosened the regulatory stranglehold on testing devices, successfully unleashed the free market to manufacture virus tests.

Unsurprisingly, now that Americans are being tested, we’re discovering that the Wuhan virus is out there. Lots of people have it. Thankfully, most do not have severe cases.

Even more thankfully, the medical establishment, when it’s not politicized, has learned that the virus can be treated early with hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and azithromycin (as Trump predicted) and that the overall mortality rate is dropping.

That’s why, despite the media’s constant talk about how Trump is leading the world in killing Americans, America has one of the lowest mortality rates in the First World. If we subtract the elderly people who died due to Democrat governors’ malfeasance, our death rate would be even lower.

All of this poses a problem for Democrats. They need to keep a lid on the economy, and they need to continue convincing Americans that Trump is failing them. The media has, therefore, turned a gimlet eye on increased case numbers in Republican states. There is a problem with this approach.

There’s increasing evidence that the number of both diagnosed cases and deaths is highly inaccurate. Fox 35 in Orlando was the first to figure out that 300 test sites in Florida, a state Democrats are targeting, were reporting 100% positivity rates when the actual rates were, on average, under 10%. Likewise, Texas, another state on the Democrat hit list, removed approximately 3,600 cases from the roles because they were only “probables” and were based on tests with a lower virus sensitivity.

There’s also the problem of false death certificates. Larry O’Connor wrote about his wife’s grandfather, who died of Alzheimer’s, being diagnosed as a Wuhan virus death. And Florida just joined New York in reporting the virus as a cause of death when someone manifestly did not die from it. It’s unclear how widespread this problem is. However, financial incentives tied to high Wuhan case numbers suggest that having federal money doled out to cash-strapped hospitals might motivate some people to massage numbers.

Democrats are also pushing hard to put a mask on every American face. Sen. Dianne Feinstein wants to force states to mandate masks by threatening to withhold federal funds. The Democrat mayor of Atlanta ignored George Governor Brian Kemp’s executive order against mask mandates, forcing him to sue. More governors are mandating masks, and so-called “mask shamers” are on the rise.

The problem is there’s endless debate about whether masks work, especially because so many wear them wrong. I have my doubts about a cotton kerchief tied over someone’s nose. Also, watching people repeatedly put on and take off the same mask suggests that the utility is imaginary.

What we do know is that those areas that have the greatest number of mask wearers also have the highest incidences of the Wuhan virus. Correlation and causation are not the same, but one can’t help suspecting that there’s a connection, whether it’s that uselessly and carelessly handled masks are contributing to infections or that people surrounded by infections will make rational choices without government force:

Congratulations. You've discovered rational choice.

Hint: High infection rates lead more people to use masks.

— (((Charlie Martin))) (@chasrmartin) July 17, 2020

Although Wuhan virus numbers are unreliable and the masks are of questionable utility, the one certain thing is that Democrats want us in a perpetual state of poverty and panic.

Image: YouTube screengrab