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A dreadful year of COVID madness, with crazy recommendations such as wearing double masks, is, hopefully, nearing an end. According to Dr. Marty Makary, a health policy expert and surgeon at Johns Hopkins University, the United States is nearing herd immunity, which refers to a situation in a community when enough people are immune to a disease to prevent its spread to others who are not protected. This immunity can be achieved through vaccines and natural infection.

Sadly, the hysterical mainstream news media, their allies in “big tech,” along with the Biden administration and many Democratic governors, are not reporting the good news that is happening in the country. Their motivation is to keep Americans in a state of total fear. Fortunately, the good news is overwhelming the attempts to suppress the truth.

In a recent Fox News interview, Makary noted that “There is a 77-percent reduction in daily cases over the last six weeks. You, as a scientist, have to ask why. We cannot explain that by vaccinated immunity. We can’t explain it by a sudden change in behavior. It is natural immunity and it’s now over 50 percent of the population.”

Instead of celebrating this news, Democratic governors and President Joe Biden among others are doubling down on the COVID mandates. A recent example is Biden’s new executive order requiring the wearing of masks on all federal property.

In a Wall Street Journal article, Makary wrote that the country currently has an “extremely low level of infection.” He predicted that at the “current trajectory, I expect COVID will be mostly gone by April, allowing Americans to resume normal life.”

We desperately need “normal life” again. Americans must be able to work and socialize again. It is time for people to be able to visit their older family members, enjoy social gatherings with friends and loved ones and attend entertainment and sporting events.

This entire COVID episode has been an extremely painful one for the country. This is certainly a real disease with deadly results. The latest data shows that over 28.1 million Americans contracted the deadly disease. Of those infected, 1.75 percent, or approximately 500,000 Americans, have died.

However, in the quest to fight the disease, the “cure” has been too painful. It has never made sense to close schools, but millions of American children are not allowed in classrooms. Studies have shown that “virtual” learning is a poor substitute for in-person instruction. It is outrageous that teacher unions are preventing the Biden administration from pushing for a quick return to the classroom for all American children.

Plenty of Democratic mayors and governors have used draconian lockdown measures to keep businesses closed and prevent workers from collecting their salaries. The economic toll has been catastrophic as 22 million Americans lost their jobs with some never to return.

The lockdown orders may have helped stop the spread of COVID, but it actually caused an untold number of other problems. With millions of Americans unable to work, the rate of depression, suicide, drug usage and overdose deaths have skyrocketed.

For example, in Louisiana alone, there was a 53-percent increase in drug overdose deaths in the 12-month period that ended in July 2020 compared to the previous year. This reflected the first few months of the COVID pandemic and the accompanying lockdowns. In the view of Jefferson Parish Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich, “I think it would be naïve to not acknowledge the pandemic must have some relationship to this increase.”

The disease has truly upended life in our country in innumerable ways. The last year has been dreadful for not only this country, but also for the entire world. An estimated 110 million people worldwide have contracted COVID since the beginning of the pandemic.

Fortunately, there is a light at the end of this horrific tunnel as this nightmare may be ending for America. Makary believes that about “55 percent of the country has natural immunity” and that 40 percent of Americans will be vaccinated by “early April.” At that point, hopefully Americans will start to feel comfortable to return to their customary activities.

While any good news will be underreported by the corrupt media, the reality will be hard to ignore even for politicians and reporters with an agenda that includes promoting COVID hysteria throughout the country.

Liberal politicians and reporters realize that the only reason Joe Biden is now President of the United States is that COVID upended normal voting practices and allowed state officials to mail millions of unsolicited ballots throughout the country. Without COVID, Americans should return to normal voting procedures with reasonable election security. In an environment without fraud, it is doubtful that any politician like Joe Biden, who supports progressive and pro-lockdown policies, will possibly win.

A future without COVID, lockdowns and masks, and with free and fair elections is one all of us should eagerly anticipate. The only ones who might be upset about such a future are those that support and benefit from the policies being promoted by left wing politicians like the one who is currently occupying the White House.

Jeff Crouere is the host of “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 10 p.m. Sunday on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 a.m. till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. He is the political analyst for WGNO-TV ABC 26 and a columnist for selected publications. For more information, visit his web site at RingsidePolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.