There is no stopping the coronavirus. Like previous influenza pandemics, it is going to make its way through society until herd immunity arrives, or a vaccine.  America can either cower in the corner, or cope with it responsibly.

We should choose the latter approach. Still, many of our overlords we elect to public office want us to curl up, cease our economic lives, and do what they tell us by continuing absurd restrictions and near economic lockdowns. Such whimsical measures will not protect against coronavirus, but continue to subjugate the private sector and our constitutional liberties, as millions of Americans remain wards of the state.

Be warned: such massive government control and capricious policies for pandemics are strikingly similar to permanent impositions proposed to deal with “climate change.”

In the five months of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have learned a great deal about the nature of the virus. Would that more politicians acted on that knowledge.

For starters, economic shutdowns do not stop the coronavirus, and should not be reinstated. Early on, in March and April, the shutdown by most states understandably occurred when less was known, and out of fear of overwhelming the hospital system. It came at a staggering cost in economic decline and skyrocketing unemployment. Many businesses have been lost permanently.

Tens of thousands of Americans still died.

As the country since re-opened, the economy has surged and more people have returned to work.  While Covid cases have surged in places, this is no time to turn back.

The recent spike of coronavirus cases in Florida, Texas and other states is affecting mostly young people, with many surely connected to the peaceful protests and not-so-peaceful rioting that so many politicians condoned. Many more cases are the result of near ubiquitous testing that did not exist four months ago.

The key benchmarks are not Covid cases, but the much lower hospitalization and fatality rates. This data shows conditions more manageable than levels from last April.

Texas and Florida, respectively, are the second and third most populous states, yet Covid death rates rank them 33rd and 23rd highest in the country. Texas has 3.5 times the population of New York City, yet the City has five times the number of coronavirus deaths.

The elderly and those with underlying health concerns, such as diabetes, are especially vulnerable to coronavirus. The latest data from the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows 338 hospitalizations for every 100,000 persons age 65 and older. Protecting them in nursing homes and elsewhere need not require everyone else be restricted.

By contrast, younger people, especially children, are not vulnerable from coronavirus, with only 4 hospitalizations—not deaths, which are lower still—for every 100,000 school age children, ages 5 to 17. They are mostly asymptomatic, less susceptible to illness, and more likely to die from multiple other everyday causes, including being shot in lawless inner city neighborhoods.

That is why it is imperative that schools resume in the coming weeks. Yet many school districts, including throughout the state of California, will remain closed. This is enormously counterproductive and harmful to children.

As for teachers, they have a job to do: teach children. Studies have shown children rarely spread coronavirus. Wear protective equipment. Adjust schedules, spread out classrooms in the gymnasiums, and install plastic screens, among other steps.

Workers in postal, law enforcement, health care and dozens of other occupations deemed “essential” have never stopped working. Teachers are essential, too. We need them in every classroom. Overwhelmingly, teachers are young and less vulnerable from coronavirus. Accommodations should be made for those over 55 and others with health concerns.

The more schools remain closed, the longer it will take for the country to return to normalcy, including more people being able to return to work. Sadly, that may be the objective of not a few in political and media circles, until the November election. It’s not my purpose here to unravel such speculation; still, you have to wonder about such malevolence.

The ongoing restrictive response by many politicians to the Covid pandemic is a microcosm of the larger effort to control society by imposing a deleterious climate change agenda, which looms as a larger threat in the years ahead. The various details of the “Green New Deal” boil down to the same outcomes of societal control:  reduced lifestyles, lost occupations, higher prices and less freedom.

Many Americans understandably remain fearful of Covid, but the genuine science and data provide more optimism today than several months ago. That’s why we should look askance as those who demand continued sacrifice and curtailments on our constitutional freedoms and economic betterment.