Before reading this post, I ask the following: 1) Please set emotion aside for a moment and hear me out. 2) Know that I understand the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and that there is no such thing as an "acceptable loss". 3) Doctors are amazing people (I'm married to one), but they will of necessity, look at this pandemic differently than most of the world. With those disclaimers, please entertain the following:
We cannot, either as a nation or a world, stay shut down indefinitely. Without the life blood that business pumps into our economy, it will shrivel and dry up faster than any of us would have thought possible. The $2 trillion package that was just signed into law demonstrates that more perfectly than any other example I can think of. It is a mind-boggling amount of money, but only a drop in the bucket compared to what is generated daily as we all go about our lives. If we were to try to stay closed for 18 months as some "experts" have suggested, I can almost guarantee we would end up as Venezuela is now. If you don't believe me, consider the state of the TP supply in our country right now...who would have ever thought? We will be facing hyper-inflation and economic collapse.
I understand that it has been important to slow the spread of this virus. It was new, we have no vaccine, we had no idea what we were looking at. But we have much more information now and we need to start making decisions about our future based on what we now know rather than our fears. It has been bad in New York and I'm sorry for their suffering. But it makes no sense to treat the entire country as if it were NYC. Most of the country (square miles) is more rural and spread out than the dense population centers in the world where the virus has raged. Clearly, under those circumstances, the virus has more impact than it does in other places. But if "essential" (they are essential for sure, but sometimes which jobs are included makes me wonder...i.e. the pot shops are still open in Washington state!!!!) workers have figured out how to operate safely, I think we can begin to allow other businesses to use their examples and do the same.
Part of my biggest frustration with the decision-making process is that we still don't know what the actual numbers are telling us. We know total reported cases, total deaths and total recoveries. But every country seems to be reporting the deaths differently. The CDC is reporting any death, regardless of the final cause as a COVID-19 death. What would be really helpful is if they were to be more specific about the deaths in terms of age and pre-existing conditions. How many healthy people are dying from the disease and how many are recovering? It would be both reassuring and helpful to know if most people who are not at high risk are recovering, then healthy people would feel less concern about returning to work.
I am not suggesting that we open everything up all at once or right this second. But it is time that we start making adult decisions about the reality of the COVID-19 world we live in. The hope that the virus would mitigate in warm weather seems slim now that two of the major hotspots in the US are New Orleans and Miami. Therefore, we must press forward. You and I can think of hundreds of kinds of businesses that our governors have deemed "non-essential" that have the brains and the will to run their businesses and maintain a safe workplace for everyone there. Once testing becomes readily available, then we will all have to be mature enough to self-quarantine for the two full weeks required, until we are no longer ill. We will have to have the consideration to STAY HOME if we have a fever and not risk spreading the virus. And perhaps, rather than giving money to everyone in the country, we should financially support those who test positive and must stay out of the workforce for the required time. (I am not suggesting that we rescind what has already been done; I don't love it, but I don't feel we had any other choice. But it is essential to remember that all of those dollars are tax-payer dollars, the government generates exactly ZERO income, they only move our hard-earned tax dollars around, which will become harder and harder to do with the economy shut down.) That would be a great help to those who are the only source of income and feel they must work or have no income soure. That would allow them to stay home, get well and avoid further contaminations. At this point, it would be foolish to allow large gatherings such as concerts and sporting events. As much as I love both of those things, we aren't there yet. But I'd wager nearly every small business in America and most big ones can operate their business safely, with appopriate guidelines given them by credible healthcare sources.
One of the lingering concerns in the back of my mind is that we are putting off the inevitable. In the absence of a vaccine, our best hope is creating herd immunity. We will get a vaccine; I have no doubts about that. But in the meantime, we can't prevent every case and mabye shouldn't. The vast majority of people that get COVID-19 recover and will be immune. The more people that become immune, the harder it is for the disease to spread. Without human incubators carrying it around, it dies. I'm not suggesting we intentionally infect people, but if we fight that wonderful God-given gift of herd immunity, are we just prolonging the pain? I'm not sure what the solution to this is, but it is something we need to contemplate. (That will aslo allow the anti-vaxxers to run around pretending that vaccines are poison. That's a good thing, right?) Furthermore, as soon as it is feasible and appropriate, we should all be tested and find out who has antibodies already. We may even need to consider limiting international travel until we can show proof of either antibodies or immunization.
The saddest reality about this whole thing is that people are going to die. We cannot stop that. The larger truth is: we are all going to die. That is really the only guarantee in life...and taxes, as they say. I don't think I'm prepared to die, but if it happens, what can I do to stop it? Life is risk. Every time I get out of my bed I risk falling down the stairs and breaking my neck. I get in my car and risk being killed in an accident. I get on a plane and risk being in a crash. Heck, a chunk of something could fall off a plane and kill me on my front lawn. We have no way of knowing when our time will come, just that it will. As adults, we are going to have round our shoulders, become educated about the risks and move forward taking responsibility for our decisions. Even with every possible effort, this horrible virus will take lives. That is incredibly sad. My fear is that over the long term the cost will be much higher than those of the virus. Those that struggle with mental health issues worsened by isolation are getting worse every day. The economic losses will mount until they become insurmountable. Don't think for a second that I'm worried solely about the money, although that is an important part of it. I'm more worried about the effects of an idle nation on our mental health, our family relationships and our ability to provide aid to our citizens and many people throughout the world. We must get back to work.
Finally, we as a nation must assess and learn from the mistakes we have made by our failure to prepare for a pandemic. We can and must do better. The worst thing we can do is finger-point and turn this in to yet another political football to be tossed back and forth with no purpose. What's done is done. What will we do better next time? We must also address our relationship with China. I have nothing against the Chinese people, but their communist regime has shown their true colors. Their need to save face and maintain secrecy has cost the world an immeasurable amount in lives, emotional damage and treasure. All nations of the world must hold them to account and if they will not reform, then we must cut ties with them economically. I'm not interested so much in a desire to punish them but to put them on notice that we are done with viruses generated in their wet markets. We are done with their lies. We are done allowing them to buy up our real estate and steal our intellectual property. It is time for China to become a contributing member to the world economy, without intellectual property theft, the slave labor of their citizens and the gross human rights abuses the world has turned a blind eye to for decades, or they must be isolated until they will. If that means we pay more at the stores, then so be it.
We cannot, either as a nation or a world, stay shut down indefinitely. Without the life blood that business pumps into our economy, it will shrivel and dry up faster than any of us would have thought possible. The $2 trillion package that was just signed into law demonstrates that more perfectly than any other example I can think of. It is a mind-boggling amount of money, but only a drop in the bucket compared to what is generated daily as we all go about our lives. If we were to try to stay closed for 18 months as some "experts" have suggested, I can almost guarantee we would end up as Venezuela is now. If you don't believe me, consider the state of the TP supply in our country right now...who would have ever thought? We will be facing hyper-inflation and economic collapse.
I understand that it has been important to slow the spread of this virus. It was new, we have no vaccine, we had no idea what we were looking at. But we have much more information now and we need to start making decisions about our future based on what we now know rather than our fears. It has been bad in New York and I'm sorry for their suffering. But it makes no sense to treat the entire country as if it were NYC. Most of the country (square miles) is more rural and spread out than the dense population centers in the world where the virus has raged. Clearly, under those circumstances, the virus has more impact than it does in other places. But if "essential" (they are essential for sure, but sometimes which jobs are included makes me wonder...i.e. the pot shops are still open in Washington state!!!!) workers have figured out how to operate safely, I think we can begin to allow other businesses to use their examples and do the same.
Part of my biggest frustration with the decision-making process is that we still don't know what the actual numbers are telling us. We know total reported cases, total deaths and total recoveries. But every country seems to be reporting the deaths differently. The CDC is reporting any death, regardless of the final cause as a COVID-19 death. What would be really helpful is if they were to be more specific about the deaths in terms of age and pre-existing conditions. How many healthy people are dying from the disease and how many are recovering? It would be both reassuring and helpful to know if most people who are not at high risk are recovering, then healthy people would feel less concern about returning to work.
I am not suggesting that we open everything up all at once or right this second. But it is time that we start making adult decisions about the reality of the COVID-19 world we live in. The hope that the virus would mitigate in warm weather seems slim now that two of the major hotspots in the US are New Orleans and Miami. Therefore, we must press forward. You and I can think of hundreds of kinds of businesses that our governors have deemed "non-essential" that have the brains and the will to run their businesses and maintain a safe workplace for everyone there. Once testing becomes readily available, then we will all have to be mature enough to self-quarantine for the two full weeks required, until we are no longer ill. We will have to have the consideration to STAY HOME if we have a fever and not risk spreading the virus. And perhaps, rather than giving money to everyone in the country, we should financially support those who test positive and must stay out of the workforce for the required time. (I am not suggesting that we rescind what has already been done; I don't love it, but I don't feel we had any other choice. But it is essential to remember that all of those dollars are tax-payer dollars, the government generates exactly ZERO income, they only move our hard-earned tax dollars around, which will become harder and harder to do with the economy shut down.) That would be a great help to those who are the only source of income and feel they must work or have no income soure. That would allow them to stay home, get well and avoid further contaminations. At this point, it would be foolish to allow large gatherings such as concerts and sporting events. As much as I love both of those things, we aren't there yet. But I'd wager nearly every small business in America and most big ones can operate their business safely, with appopriate guidelines given them by credible healthcare sources.
One of the lingering concerns in the back of my mind is that we are putting off the inevitable. In the absence of a vaccine, our best hope is creating herd immunity. We will get a vaccine; I have no doubts about that. But in the meantime, we can't prevent every case and mabye shouldn't. The vast majority of people that get COVID-19 recover and will be immune. The more people that become immune, the harder it is for the disease to spread. Without human incubators carrying it around, it dies. I'm not suggesting we intentionally infect people, but if we fight that wonderful God-given gift of herd immunity, are we just prolonging the pain? I'm not sure what the solution to this is, but it is something we need to contemplate. (That will aslo allow the anti-vaxxers to run around pretending that vaccines are poison. That's a good thing, right?) Furthermore, as soon as it is feasible and appropriate, we should all be tested and find out who has antibodies already. We may even need to consider limiting international travel until we can show proof of either antibodies or immunization.
The saddest reality about this whole thing is that people are going to die. We cannot stop that. The larger truth is: we are all going to die. That is really the only guarantee in life...and taxes, as they say. I don't think I'm prepared to die, but if it happens, what can I do to stop it? Life is risk. Every time I get out of my bed I risk falling down the stairs and breaking my neck. I get in my car and risk being killed in an accident. I get on a plane and risk being in a crash. Heck, a chunk of something could fall off a plane and kill me on my front lawn. We have no way of knowing when our time will come, just that it will. As adults, we are going to have round our shoulders, become educated about the risks and move forward taking responsibility for our decisions. Even with every possible effort, this horrible virus will take lives. That is incredibly sad. My fear is that over the long term the cost will be much higher than those of the virus. Those that struggle with mental health issues worsened by isolation are getting worse every day. The economic losses will mount until they become insurmountable. Don't think for a second that I'm worried solely about the money, although that is an important part of it. I'm more worried about the effects of an idle nation on our mental health, our family relationships and our ability to provide aid to our citizens and many people throughout the world. We must get back to work.
Finally, we as a nation must assess and learn from the mistakes we have made by our failure to prepare for a pandemic. We can and must do better. The worst thing we can do is finger-point and turn this in to yet another political football to be tossed back and forth with no purpose. What's done is done. What will we do better next time? We must also address our relationship with China. I have nothing against the Chinese people, but their communist regime has shown their true colors. Their need to save face and maintain secrecy has cost the world an immeasurable amount in lives, emotional damage and treasure. All nations of the world must hold them to account and if they will not reform, then we must cut ties with them economically. I'm not interested so much in a desire to punish them but to put them on notice that we are done with viruses generated in their wet markets. We are done with their lies. We are done allowing them to buy up our real estate and steal our intellectual property. It is time for China to become a contributing member to the world economy, without intellectual property theft, the slave labor of their citizens and the gross human rights abuses the world has turned a blind eye to for decades, or they must be isolated until they will. If that means we pay more at the stores, then so be it.
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