Truth In Quarantine
In times of great crisis, we will see both the best and the worst of human behavior.
Medical health workers have been overwhelmed by the publicity panic caused by Covid 19. Being thrust into a position to have to deal with an unknown and dangerous virus has to be scary and thankless work and no one envies these working heroes.
Unfortunately, we’re also seeing the dark side of society. The hoarding of goods, the price gouging, the finger pointing and the sheer hysteria that has enveloped people as virulently as the actual infection.
Even more unfortunate are the stupid people doing what they do best, which is to be stupid. We have people licking toilet seats and posting them on Instagram. We have people coughing onto food at grocery stores. We have the Governor of Nevada banning the use of the drug, chloroquine, shown to have been effectively used in stopping the infection, while the intellectual giant Bill de Blasio releases 200 inmates because Covid 19 posed a danger to them while incarcerated.
No one group is more responsible for fanning the flames of hysteria than is the established media. So many half truths and outright exaggerations were foisted upon a public naïve as to the actual statistics associated with the infection that it was difficult not to panic. And how would the public know any better? Few are medical experts. Fewer still are willing to do the investigation into the actual facts surrounding the bug. So we depend on media sources to objectively report the status to us. Even now, many are still selling the idea that this pandemic will infect millions and will last for 18 months or more.
When questions are posed to the President on the status of the virus, one question was dramatically framed as “…what do you say to the millions of people in the public who are terrified?…” Hyperbole must be the prerequisite technique for reporters. Infection and mortality rates are pasted prominently on TV screens like a morbid running stock ticker. The not so subtle message is, “you’re all going to die!” The linked headline above is projecting a human catastrophe if people go to New Orleans. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if you go to New Orleans for a mass celebration, the chances are good that you’ll come out with some kind of infection even if there wasn’t any Covid 19.
By now, there’s possibly only one remote tribe in Samoa that hasn’t gotten the universal message to wash hands fanatically, to not sneeze or cough on people, maybe wear masks, stay home if you’re sick and to avoid huge crowds of sweaty people. Those are all sensible things…though I’m not sure why people needed to be reminded to wash their hands.
The mortality rates will unfortunately continue to climb for a period, but awareness and logical isolation will eventually end the spread. Even now, there are indications of declining infection rates in countries such as Singapore, Japan and South Korea. The unfortunate part is that the elderly are particularly vulnerable, but there is more and more evidence that although people may be infected, the numbers of recovery are also very high
So Covid 19 is statistically not a death sentence. The truth is what’s really in quarantine. The response of the world to destroy their economies seems an outsized response given the statistics that we know. As noted, nations such as Singapore and Japan have effectively reduced their exposure using effective means without having to resort to destroying their economies. Conspicuously, those nations applied pragmatic fixes rather than political ones. But there is certainly hope that the catastrophic forecasts will be re-thought. One of the first experts to model the corona 19 virus epidemic, Dr Neil Ferguson has in fact significantly stepped back from his initial modeling of the infection rate.
The relative ignorance of the public as to what the facts are have allowed the ever present political opportunists to capitalize on these fears. Even as there are genuine attempts made to save the economy from catastrophic implosion, political skulduggery continues as usual. Never let a crisis go to waste were the words of an infamous politician and sure enough, in this instance, the public loses again.
Update: March 27. Busted!