Bad Outdoor Science threw thousands of musicians and performers out of work during the last year. Reports over the last week, including from the New York Times, indicate that the threat of COVID in an outdoor setting is minimal to non existent with NO reported deaths resulting from outdoor exposure anywhere!! The WHO and CDC “science” on outdoor exposure turns out to have been based in part on a now discredited “study” done in Singapore. Fine and good…so the government didn’t know then what they know now. But it does stick in my craw that we got beat over the head with the mantra of “we are following the science” mantra again and again by governors, government scientists, and media pundits as governments imposed ever more draconian martial laws on outdoor gatherings to combat Covid. Turns out they rushed the “science”…….thank god that Big Pharma didn’t!! Big Pharma, under enormous time pressure, got the science right! And I, for one, am benefitting from the vaccine. Imagine the outcry if Big Pharma had gotten the science wrong! But if you are a government scientist, it is okay to get it wrong, and literally destroy the livelihood of restaurant workers, musicians, and performers. Now make it right!!

In the United States, trillions of dollars have been allocated to deal with the impact of COVID. Unfortunately, most of the money is not directed at individuals impacted but at government. As one example, the state of California is reportedly receiving 25 billion or more dollars to deal with the ‘impact” of Covid on their state budget. California ran a 75 billion dollar surplus last year!!! In a state with a population of 40 million, my unscientific guess is 500,00 restaurant workers, musicians, and performers that could have kept working in outdoor settings were shutdown by bad science. Add in first responders and front line hospital workers and my guess is the number rises to 1 million people. Instead of doling out money to government agencies, how about taking that 25 billion and apportioning 50% of it directly to those directly impacted! That would be a one time check for 12,500 dollars to, in part, say, “Oops, we got the science wrong on your ability to work and perform in an outdoor setting”.

To be fair, the governor of California is proposing distributions of the Covid cash: $600 for everybody. But “everybody” wasn’t significantly financially impacted. Big Tech companies in particular have done very nicely during the pandemic. Instead of doling out the money to everyone…….give the performers and musicians what they deserve…make it right!!