Dave Swaim: "We the People of Flathead County Reject Medical Tyranny"

To view letter as published on 

11/29/20, click here

There is no question that lockdowns cost lives and cause innumerable unintended consequences. The Flathead County Health Board's proposed letter signed by chairman Bill Burg dated November 2, 2020 acknowledged, "...we are intimately aware of the indirect effects this pandemic has caused. 

Businesses have closed, or significantly curtailed operations, leaving small business owners to grapple with the fallout. The financial and emotional strain of shutdowns has led to increased incidence of mental health crises. Many families are struggling. These facts are not lost on us, nor do we take them lightly." 

The authors of this letter claim "this pandemic has caused" the consequences listed, and "businesses have closed" as if all by themselves. Did government officials and bureaucrats have nothing to do with closing those businesses and damaging those lives? They talk as if they had no choice in the matter. Those who are directly responsible will never accept responsibility, and they're trying to deflect the blame. Now they want to spread more lockdown destruction.

The Health Board's acknowledgment quoted above is also a gross understatement of the true harm that lockdowns cause, as documented in an article by Dr. Thomas Woods titled "Death by Lockdown." One brief example (out of nine) from the article: "Oxford University’s Sunetra Gupta has pointed to warnings by global authorities that as many as 130 million people are at risk of starvation thanks to the possibility of famine in several dozen places around the world, brought on by lockdown-induced disruptions of supply chains." 

The refusal of governments worldwide to seek a more humane approach is unconscionable, and the fact that such an approach has been developed but intentionally ignored is a crime against humanity, and one that clearly proves that the true worldwide objective has nothing to do with saving lives and preserving free societies.

The humane approach is called The Great Barrington Declaration. For those whose motto is "Listen to the science," this is it. The Great Barrington Declaration approach is called Focused Protection and it's based on the fact that the virus affects different age groups at vastly different rates. The CDC age breakdown for total United States COVID-19 deaths illuminates this fact dramatically. The numbers of deaths per age group are, as of 11-07-20: 0-24 years: 485; 25-34 years: 1,704; 35-44 years: 4,383; 45-54 years: 11,618; 55-64 years: 27,892; 65-74 years: 47,703; 75-84 years: 58,830; 85+ years: 68,084. (National Center for Health Statistics Weekly Updates by Select Demographic and Geographic Characteristics Provisional Death Counts for Coronavirus Disease 2019) Based on this information, would you treat the 0-24 year age group the same as the 65+ age group? It's ridiculous to even ask, but that's exactly what's being done.

The Flathead County Commissioners support our right to make our own health decisions. Four of the Health Board members (Bukacek, Holmquist, Larsen, and Skees) oppose lockdowns as well as ineffective, unhealthy, and divisive mask mandates. The Flathead County Sheriff and Kalispell Police Chief are honoring their constitutional oaths. The county attorney has maintained his integrity. Our honorable legislative representatives are working to protect us from unconstitutional laws. Multiple judges have sided with Flathead County businesses that are under political attack. 

Those of us who are struggling to survive owe these individuals a tremendous debt of gratitude. These are the public officials who truly are saving lives. Those Health Board members who still support lockdowns and mandates as well as the heavy-handed Health Department and school officials attempting to enforce them have an unavoidable responsibility to the people who have been and will be harmed by their actions to justify their decision if they choose to continue to ignore Focused Protection in favor of repeating their past mistakes. I invite them to publish a refutation of the facts I have presented in this letter. (Tip: I've seen their best attempts. Using fearmongering and misleading statistics won't cut it, so good luck.) If they can't or won't do so, then will they continue to pursue a policy that they can't defend?

The Health Board letter referenced above also stated, "We all want to reduce preventable loss of life." Will the four pro-lockdown members and the Health Department stand behind that statement and abandon lockdowns in favor of life-saving Focused Protection? Or will they continue to contribute to public hysteria and submit to political pressure from a retaliatory governor whose unconstitutional and destructive policies were soundly rejected by the People of Montana just days ago? Bullock's senate bid was rejected 63% to 37% in Flathead County for a reason. We the People of Flathead County reject medical tyranny.

—Dave Swaim lives in Evergreen Montana USA