So here's the question no one seems to be addressing: What are we going to do next time?
Oh yes. There will be a next time. As I stated in my previous blog, if there's one thing we're certain of, it's that we've seen a new virus or strain of the flu that freaks out the CDC every year or two at least for the past few decades.
You see, everybody is on board with the idea that this is going to pass and we'll all get back to normal at some point. "We'll survive this!" seems to be everyone's mantra. But what happens when the next virus hits?
We've set the bar awfully high now, haven't we? Can we reasonably ignore 30,000 flu deaths anymore? I mean, in the past, when he CDC issued warnings, they were bilaterally ignored. But not now.
You can bet there will be something new coming down the pike in the next year or two. What will we do then? Will we again cancel school for months, and shut down all concerts and sports games, and ban all travel every time a new strain of the flu comes out, or the "horse-virus" or "Budweiser-virus" hits?
I think it will be reasonable to ask, "Why did everyone freak out so bad over the Coronavirus, which turned out to be such a dud, and yet nobody seems to care when my best friend dies from the flu?"
We've set a dangerous precedent here I don't see anybody considering. Not only have we set the bar that we should bring all life in the United States to a screeching halt every time some dude in the back woods of China gets a cold, but we've also now placed the burden on those of us who are relatively healthy to ensure those of us who aren't don't further compromise their shaky immune systems.
In a large number of people's way of thinking, we've shifted the responsibility to keep everyone healthy away from those who are actually sick to the shoulders of those who aren't. We've said, "Yeah, you're tough enough to muscle through, but because others might not be, you should quarantine yourself as well."
For years, I've heard parents and school officials alike say, "If your kids are sick, keep them home, so they don't get other people sick." That's pretty good advice that most everyone seemed to accept.
But not now. Yes, we're placing those who get the virus in quarantine, but at the same time punishing everyone else who isn't sick because they might carry the virus to someone who isn't healthy enough to fight it off. At least that's what the shamers on social media are saying. "Stop being a tool. You might be healthy, but others aren't and that's why we have to make you stay at home."
There's nobility in that, for sure, and I'm not saying it's completely wrong. I'm saying we've set the bar to that level now. Which would be fine, but most are not willing to do that in all other aspects of their everyday lives.
The general populace isn't willing to stop driving cars, even though tens of thousands of Americans die every year in car accidents. The government doesn't say, "We must clear all roads and interstates so as to stop people from crashing into each other."
We're not going to clear the roads for drunk drivers. We're not going to say, "Well, there's likely people out there driving drunk, so let's clear all the roads so they can't hurt anybody." It's absurd.
Heart disease and cancer are the top two killers in the US each year, knocking off roughly half a million people each -- every year. But aside from saying, "Hey you need to eat a few more vegetables, knock off the sweets, and exercise more," we're not really doing anything to prevent the deaths. We've reasonable said, "Look, people have a right to live their lives the way they want. If they want to live a lifestyle that kills them, that's up to them." The government hasn't stepped in and made everybody stop eating Ding Dongs and sign up for a gym membership.
I know there's always some who will say those are bad comparisons. But the principle is legit. After every tragedy or disaster, there are laws either proposed or enacted that essentially punish law-abiding citizens far worse than those who choose to commit crimes. Now we're doing it with healthcare. We're telling perfectly healthy people it is now their responsibility to make sure others don't get more sick.
We all have a moral obligation to look after those who are less fortunate. It's Scriptural, its heart-felt, and just plain right. We should be doing that anyway. But I think it's a slippery slope to start laying out blanket guidelines enforced by the government that in the end will only be enacted and followed when it's convenient, or worse, politically prudent.
Some might say, "You dolt! The measure are in place to ensure your safety as well." OK, but to what end? I'm being forced by the government to shut down my life -- which, to some, is no kind of life at all -- just because I might get sick?
It's true what they're saying. This is dangerously close to what socialism looks like. And it happened in a matter of weeks.
In the end, you can bet that there will be far more people plunged into financial ruin by all of this than will actually die from the virus. Right now, the more self-righteous among us simply do not care. To them, having someone's life completely ruined is a better alternative.
There's been one death in South Carolina from this virus so far. One. But the measures that are being put in place to prevent even one more have the potential to ruin the lives of thousands of others. Employees, retirees, and business owners alike. Is that worth it? You tell me.
Fear. Panic. Hysteria. Mania. Financial ruin. With very little data and mostly speculation and forecasting to back it all up. All in the hopes of preventing more deaths.
So what will we do next time?
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Monday, March 16, 2020
The Insanity of the Coronavirus
My best friend died from the flu a few years ago. So I'm not insensitive to the fact that people die from viral-related illnesses. When he contracted the illness, he had a myriad of other underlying health issues that rendered his body incapable of being able to fight off the virus, and he succumbed to it.
I only mention this because as I proceed, I don't want anybody to accuse me of being insensitive, callous, selfish, uncaring, unloving, or any combination thereof. Of course I want people to be safe, and I'm all for doing whatever we can to ensure that people protect themselves from unwanted illnesses.
But I have some questions. And some of those questions pose further questions I'm not sure everybody is thinking of down the road. So here we go.
Where did the sudden concern for humanity come from? By that I mean, why have we, as a society, virtually ignored every single pandemic, virus, and flu-related illness that's come down the pike in the last 100 years or so, with nary batting an eyelash, but all the sudden, at the mere mention of the word "Coronavirus," the entire country has virtually been shut down?
Somebody please explain that to me.
According the Centers for Disease Control (the CDC) the flu alone has killed well over 30,000 people, including my best friend, each year since 2010, and that's just the past 10 years.
And here's the stats I found on H1N1, the "swine flu" that was all the rage back in 2009 and 2010. Direct from the CDC website: "From April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, CDC estimated there were 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (range: 195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (range: 8868-18,306) in the United States due to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus.
Over 300,000 flu-deaths in the last 10 years, and nearly 12.5 thousand deaths from H1N1 alone in one year, and not a single shutdown. Not a single sports contest cancelled. Not a single travel ban. Not a single school closure. Not a single concern that doctors and hospitals would be overwhelmed.
None. Why now?
Please don't throw speculation at me. It's not as though there has never been global health crises before that affected other countries dramatically and yet had very little impact here in the US. It's happened plenty of times. The data so far on this one doesn't back up a single shred of the panic we've seen. China's #'s alone for the Coronavirus, (albeit, likely under-reported from their Communist regime) don't warrant the kind of panic we've seen, let alone the absolute minuscule numbers we've seen here in the US so far. I can't speak for Italy, or Iran, or South Korea. God only knows how truly prepared any other country is, or how much their governments remotely care about their people. I only know that so far, here in the US, even until we started seriously social-distancing from everyone, everything cancelled, and all overseas travel was banned, the total amount of cases in general, let alone the deaths, were barely worse than a bad weekend in Chicago. As of this writing, there are a total number of 68 deaths nation-wide, and roughly 60% of those cases are in one nursing home in Washington State. That's 20-30 deaths otherwise in the US. More people have been killed in crimes in Indianapolis so far this year.
Look, if in the past, in a response to H1N1, or SARS, or Ebola, or the ZEKA virus, or the common flu, we'd seen even a remote attempt at stopping the spread -- a mild travel ban, the cancellation of a few games, the closing of a school for a week or so -- anything at all, then one could remotely justify the panic we're seeing now.
But nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero.
Until now.
So why?
Look, I get it. One death is one too many. I understand that. And I'm not saying precautions shouldn't be taken. I'm not even saying I think we shouldn't be doing what we're doing or that what we're doing is wrong... well... sort.
What I AM saying is that the panicked response to this, given the data, and in the absence of literally anything for the virus-related illnesses of the last decade simply makes no rational sense.
If anyone can give a rational answer to that, I'm all ears. Otherwise, we are left to speculate.
In general, I believe in the overall good of people. I believe people don't want ill to befall other people. There's a moral vapidness that is gradually overtaking our society, but otherwise, I like to believe the general populace wishes well-being on their fellow man.
But I've seen several social media posts in the past several days that basically read like this: "Sure, you might be able to go out in public right now and survive the virus, but you might carry the virus to some other poor schlub who isn't as healthy as you, and they might not survive. And that's the problem." I've seen that post in several variations over the past few days, and they all follow that same vein.
And while that scenario might actually be true, my question is simple: Where has this concern for others been over the past decade or so? Why have we not given a lickety-spit as over 30,000 people were dying from the flu each year, and all the sudden we're shaming people for stepping outside their house?
Why? It literally makes no sense. Did everyone suddenly gain a conscious? Did everyone suddenly find some heretofore unearthed love for the fellow man they hadn't noticed before? Do the heads of state suddenly have access to health information they've never had before?
I'm sorry, but while the optimist in me wants to believe in the good of people, the skeptic in me doesn't buy it for a minute. Because a great deal of the posts I've seen like that have been posted by people who I know would dance a jig tomorrow if our President were assassinated.
We've gone from literally ignoring every virus of this kind we've ever seen in modern society to losing our collective minds and shutting down the entire country over a death count that so far is barely greater than a bad bus accident Albuquerque. (Shouldn't a taken that wrong toin!)
It. Makes. No. Sense.
Could the "conspiracy theorists" be right? Could this be a media-driven false panic? Worse, could it be yet another insane hail-mary to bring down our President? Could it be a purposeful bio-attack from China in retaliation for losing the trade war?
I have my suspicions, but I'm not gonna come right out and say it. I'll just say this: I've racked my brain and I can't come up with any rational answer. And worse, I can't get anybody else to give me one either. There is but one variable that's changed from this pandemic vs. all the others: Donald Trump wasn't President during those others.
And here's how we'll know whether my suspicions are right or not: What are we going to do next time?
(Spoiler alert: I'm saving that topic for my next blog.)
There will be a next time. That much is for sure. If we've learned anything from the past few decades, it's that every year or two there's a new virus or a new strain of the flu that's going to ruin the world. Will we flip out as we have on this one, or will we completely ignore it as we have done with every one before? There will be some very reasonable questions raised depending on our response, whatever it is. And it will be interesting to see who the President is and which side of the aisle he is from.
Fear. Panic. Hysteria. Mania. With very little data and mostly speculation and forecasting to back it up. Complete lunacy. Pure insanity.
If you've got a rational reason for all this, please, by all means....
I only mention this because as I proceed, I don't want anybody to accuse me of being insensitive, callous, selfish, uncaring, unloving, or any combination thereof. Of course I want people to be safe, and I'm all for doing whatever we can to ensure that people protect themselves from unwanted illnesses.
But I have some questions. And some of those questions pose further questions I'm not sure everybody is thinking of down the road. So here we go.
Where did the sudden concern for humanity come from? By that I mean, why have we, as a society, virtually ignored every single pandemic, virus, and flu-related illness that's come down the pike in the last 100 years or so, with nary batting an eyelash, but all the sudden, at the mere mention of the word "Coronavirus," the entire country has virtually been shut down?
Somebody please explain that to me.
According the Centers for Disease Control (the CDC) the flu alone has killed well over 30,000 people, including my best friend, each year since 2010, and that's just the past 10 years.
And here's the stats I found on H1N1, the "swine flu" that was all the rage back in 2009 and 2010. Direct from the CDC website: "From April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, CDC estimated there were 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (range: 195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (range: 8868-18,306) in the United States due to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus.
Over 300,000 flu-deaths in the last 10 years, and nearly 12.5 thousand deaths from H1N1 alone in one year, and not a single shutdown. Not a single sports contest cancelled. Not a single travel ban. Not a single school closure. Not a single concern that doctors and hospitals would be overwhelmed.
None. Why now?
Please don't throw speculation at me. It's not as though there has never been global health crises before that affected other countries dramatically and yet had very little impact here in the US. It's happened plenty of times. The data so far on this one doesn't back up a single shred of the panic we've seen. China's #'s alone for the Coronavirus, (albeit, likely under-reported from their Communist regime) don't warrant the kind of panic we've seen, let alone the absolute minuscule numbers we've seen here in the US so far. I can't speak for Italy, or Iran, or South Korea. God only knows how truly prepared any other country is, or how much their governments remotely care about their people. I only know that so far, here in the US, even until we started seriously social-distancing from everyone, everything cancelled, and all overseas travel was banned, the total amount of cases in general, let alone the deaths, were barely worse than a bad weekend in Chicago. As of this writing, there are a total number of 68 deaths nation-wide, and roughly 60% of those cases are in one nursing home in Washington State. That's 20-30 deaths otherwise in the US. More people have been killed in crimes in Indianapolis so far this year.
Look, if in the past, in a response to H1N1, or SARS, or Ebola, or the ZEKA virus, or the common flu, we'd seen even a remote attempt at stopping the spread -- a mild travel ban, the cancellation of a few games, the closing of a school for a week or so -- anything at all, then one could remotely justify the panic we're seeing now.
But nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero.
Until now.
So why?
Look, I get it. One death is one too many. I understand that. And I'm not saying precautions shouldn't be taken. I'm not even saying I think we shouldn't be doing what we're doing or that what we're doing is wrong... well... sort.
What I AM saying is that the panicked response to this, given the data, and in the absence of literally anything for the virus-related illnesses of the last decade simply makes no rational sense.
If anyone can give a rational answer to that, I'm all ears. Otherwise, we are left to speculate.
In general, I believe in the overall good of people. I believe people don't want ill to befall other people. There's a moral vapidness that is gradually overtaking our society, but otherwise, I like to believe the general populace wishes well-being on their fellow man.
But I've seen several social media posts in the past several days that basically read like this: "Sure, you might be able to go out in public right now and survive the virus, but you might carry the virus to some other poor schlub who isn't as healthy as you, and they might not survive. And that's the problem." I've seen that post in several variations over the past few days, and they all follow that same vein.
And while that scenario might actually be true, my question is simple: Where has this concern for others been over the past decade or so? Why have we not given a lickety-spit as over 30,000 people were dying from the flu each year, and all the sudden we're shaming people for stepping outside their house?
Why? It literally makes no sense. Did everyone suddenly gain a conscious? Did everyone suddenly find some heretofore unearthed love for the fellow man they hadn't noticed before? Do the heads of state suddenly have access to health information they've never had before?
I'm sorry, but while the optimist in me wants to believe in the good of people, the skeptic in me doesn't buy it for a minute. Because a great deal of the posts I've seen like that have been posted by people who I know would dance a jig tomorrow if our President were assassinated.
We've gone from literally ignoring every virus of this kind we've ever seen in modern society to losing our collective minds and shutting down the entire country over a death count that so far is barely greater than a bad bus accident Albuquerque. (Shouldn't a taken that wrong toin!)
It. Makes. No. Sense.
Could the "conspiracy theorists" be right? Could this be a media-driven false panic? Worse, could it be yet another insane hail-mary to bring down our President? Could it be a purposeful bio-attack from China in retaliation for losing the trade war?
I have my suspicions, but I'm not gonna come right out and say it. I'll just say this: I've racked my brain and I can't come up with any rational answer. And worse, I can't get anybody else to give me one either. There is but one variable that's changed from this pandemic vs. all the others: Donald Trump wasn't President during those others.
And here's how we'll know whether my suspicions are right or not: What are we going to do next time?
(Spoiler alert: I'm saving that topic for my next blog.)
There will be a next time. That much is for sure. If we've learned anything from the past few decades, it's that every year or two there's a new virus or a new strain of the flu that's going to ruin the world. Will we flip out as we have on this one, or will we completely ignore it as we have done with every one before? There will be some very reasonable questions raised depending on our response, whatever it is. And it will be interesting to see who the President is and which side of the aisle he is from.
Fear. Panic. Hysteria. Mania. With very little data and mostly speculation and forecasting to back it up. Complete lunacy. Pure insanity.
If you've got a rational reason for all this, please, by all means....
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