Readers, remember when the legacy media broadcast a story about a major study showing President Trump’s summer rallies acted as potential “COVID superspreader events,” and I pointed out that, like with climate change, models (essentially, algorithmic projections) were used to come up with those “statistics”?

Well, in another piece from back in October, Stacey Lennox from our sister site PJ Media brings the receipts on the real reason why the number of coronavirus cases appear to be “spiking,” and it’s become even more relevant this week, as the legacy media’s reports increase to a hysterical pitch leading up to Thanksgiving. Stacey writes: (emphasis added)

…[I]t is crucial to the preferred narrative that you think there are 40,000 new sick people every day. People who could need the type of sophisticated care being given to President Trump at Walter Reed Medical Center.

[…]

People who are not and won’t get ill receive a positive test result because of the way the most common type of test used to detect the virus works.

[…]

The PCR test looks for the virus by amplifying the RNA it detects. Every amplification is called a cycle. The more cycles the test uses, the higher likelihood of finding pieces of the virus’s RNA. In the United States, most labs go through 40 cycles, according to the Times. Experts interviewed said this number of cycles is unnecessarily high.

Then she cites a New York Times story, which quoted several experts, including this virologist:

Any test with a cycle threshold above 35 is too sensitive, agreed Juliet Morrison, a virologist at the University of California, Riverside. “I’m shocked that people would think that 40 could represent a positive,” she said.

A more reasonable cutoff would be 30 to 35, she added.

Let that sink in a moment.

Now, the leftists in Democrat-controlled governors’ mansions are at it again, trying to justify wrongheaded, executive-ordered lockdowns with the “modeling” junk science, as we approach one of America’s most beloved family holidays.

#BREAKING NEWS: Pa. Health Sec. Dr. Rachel Levine has issued a one-night suspension of alcohol sales starting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 25, which is the night before the Thanksgiving holiday. https://t.co/iVngbGjRoZ

— KDKA (@KDKA) November 23, 2020

KDKA:

Gov. Tom Wolf pointed to modeling projecting Pennsylvania will run out of ICU beds in December if no action is taken.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation is projecting 22,000 new coronavirus cases per day in the state and more than 32,000 deaths by Feb. 23. That death toll, the governor’s office says, could be cut in half with universal mask-wearing.

But there was more – again, Dave Barry’s famous quote fits here: “and I am not making this up”:

On Wednesday, Nov. 25, restaurants and bars are ordered to suspend alcohol sales at 5 p.m. until 8 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 26. Gov. Wolf says the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the “biggest day for drinking” and acknowledged bars and restaurants have been hit hard by the pandemic, but this one-night ban is needed.

“The thing that we can’t do is ignore reality and say ‘yeah you folks, for no fault of your own, have been hit hardest by this virus.’ But the virus is what’s doing this. It’s not me. It’s not the administration. It’s not the government,” said Gov. Wolf.

There’s also a stay-at-home advisory, and Dr. Levine says people shouldn’t gather with others outside their household.

This bit is worth reading again, for the sheer hubris: “But the virus is what’s doing this. It’s not me. It’s not the administration. It’s not the government.” An authoritarian is only doing what’s best for you, citizens.

Amazingly, this isn’t the first time during the China flu pandemic that a PA official has ordered alcohol sales suspended. Would you be surprised if I told you Allegheny County (which includes Pittsburgh) banned alcohol sales the weekend before Fourth of July? At that time, the county led the commonwealth with 100 new cases a day. That’s right, 100.

But why would their top health official order something for all of PA that was ordered back in July for one county, if it worked so well the first time? And why does the governor make noises like he’s sorry restaurants and bars are hanging on by their fingernails. But, never mind that, because reasons.

As they say, look up the definition of “insanity” in the nearest dictionary.