No, this is 100% false. These types of statements are intended to sow doubt, create confusion, and keep people from voting during an election season where vote-by-mail is an important option, especially for those who have physical challenges or are at higher risk of contracting Covid-19. The truth is  vote-by-mail is tried and tested and has been around since the Civil War. In fact, states like Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, and Utah conduct their elections almost entirely by mail and have been doing so for many years.  In some states you can actually track your ballot — click here to find out if ballot tracking is available where you vote.

Whew, so much to unpack here. First and foremost, COVID-19 is not a hoax. Over 1,000,000 Americans have died from the virus and the number of total cases, in the United States alone, is over 99 million! COVID-19 is more contagious among certain populations and age groups than the flu and has been observed to have more superspreading events than the flu. This means that the virus that causes COVID-19 can quickly and easily spread to a lot of people and result in continuous spreading among people as time passes. And, even if you are asymptomatic, you can and will spread the virus. Please, take it seriously and wear your mask, wash your hands, and practice physical distancing.

Let’s first start with what ‘herd immunity’ is. According to the Mayo Clinic, “herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected — not just those who are immune.”

60% to 70% of the population would have to contract and recover from COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity — in other words, 200 million Americans and 5.6 billion people worldwide would be impacted. In order to achieve herd immunity without a vaccine, we would have to risk a lot of lives because not everyone recovers and over 1 million people have died worldwide.

Data source: The New England Journal of Medicine

These tired tropes are attempts to undermine a powerful and growing movement in Black Lives Matter.

The truth is, we want what everyone wants: adequate and safe housing, healthcare, economic equity and opportunity; we want to live free from over-policing and threats of being caged within the prison industrial system. Simply put, we want the freedom to thrive. Bottomline: We are not terrorists. We are sisters, mothers, brothers, and fathers who are demanding that our country live up to its highest ideals and promises.

White nationalism is an ideology or idea that race is hierarchical and at that the top of that hierarchy is whiteness. Many policies, systems, and societal attitudes are rooted in this ideology, the impact of which have harmed Black communities in this country for generations. As the country becomes more racially diverse, white nationalists irrationally fear that the “white race” is being ‘replaced.’ According to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, white nationalist hate groups have increased by 55% since 2016. The report also notes an increase in homophobic and transphobic organizations. All of these groups have one thing in common: they use the threat of and real violence to terrorize and attempt to silence our communities but we won’t back down.