The government statistics are internally incoherent since they base them on people tested (a non-random population) rather than people infected (as revealed by random testing including antibody testing). The government lied from the beginning claiming that most persons infected by Covid would be become seriously ill and several percent would die, whereas in facts over 90% of those infected don’t get sick, and the death rate of those infected is in tenths of a percent and in fact represents only a tiny “blip” compared to the overall death rate (in part since Covid19 kills mostly old people or those already quite ill). In real epidemics, such as smallpox in a new population, death rates would be in the tens of percents, everyone would get sick, and children would be the most vulnerable – a “plague” that doesn’t cause illness for most people and kills only the elderly is not a social threat. The shutdowns and closures were and are a mistake, and we are right to suspect ulterior motives.
The government in “blue” states do not believe their own propaganda since they routinely allow their supporters to gather without masks or social distancing (note: these are the people they would least want to die), while at the same time striking a blow against religions whom they have for a long time regarded as mortal enemies. It should also be noted that the frum community is much less likely than the general population to be affected since we are radically younger, not to mention that the age group most at risk from Covid19 are those who are older than “boomers” (i.e. those born after World War II, which in our community is an age group that is still artificially reduced due to high mortality among Jewish children during the period preceding 1945). Some frum media have unwisely “bought” the false narrative put out by the hyper-secular liberal media.
And why do you see relatively few frum women protesting? In our community, large, noisy and potentially violent protests are not seen as a place for women. If you don’t realize that, you really don’t understand the sociology of the frum community.