The Wuhan Virus: Reality Check
I’ve heard it said that wisdom is merely an awareness of the obvious. A corollary to this truth, however, would be that “the obvious” is NOT obvious to everyone.
A fair question we might ask, therefore, is: WHY is what SHOULD be “obvious” to all, elusive to many?
First, quite simply, people believe what they want to believe. Something may, ostensibly, be obvious, but if it’s unpleasant people often look the other way.
Another factor is that people tend to look at things through the filter of their chosen ideology. Leftists, for example, “filter out” the violence against Christians perpetrated by Muslims on a daily basis in large parts of the world. Because leftist ideology abjures transcultural judgements, they are loath to condemn Muslims and, as a consequence, must turn a blind eye to the horrific violence committed by Muslims across the globe. On the other side of that coin, rightists “filter out” the tremendous loss of life that results from the ready availability of semiautomatic firearms. Because rightist ideology staunchly opposes the revocation of the legal right to gun ownership, they turn a blind eye to the horrendous loss of life which results from the ready availability of semi automatic weapons.
Lastly, even clear eyed and non ideological people can be swayed by the polemics of activists. It would seem that people with “axes to grind” are more vocal and more strident than those with a more balanced disposition. The average person is busy earning a living and providing for their families and their communities. They simply don’t have the time (nor, sometimes, the inclination) to look into the issues of the day with depth and insight. Through no fault of their own they can be misled by the hyper partisan activists that prowl the halls of academia, the government and the media.
So, from whatever the cause, the “obvious” is not nearly as obvious as we would like to think. With this in mind, corona virus is proving to be quite a “reality check” providing us with a number of lessons in the realm of the obvious. Let’s look at some.
1) National borders are ESSENTIAL to any country’s well being. Far from being “immoral” and cruel and unnecessary, they are of utmost importance for the safety and security of the populace. Come to think of it, I haven’t hear a “peep” out of the ”open borders” crowd for a couple of months now. Imagine that! The last time we heard ANY mention of “open borders” is when President Trump first enacted a ban on travelers to the United States from China. He was criticized at that time for being “racist” and alarmist, by the same group of ideologues that now are claiming that he closed the borders too late! Imagine that! Although I have no illusions that the ideologues will learn from their mistakes, I am hopeful that this crisis will have spurred the vast majority of clear thinking Americans to wake up and that the “open borders” movement will be relegated to the dust bin of history.
2) The policy of “globalization” is not something we should view as inevitable or desirable. As commentator Ann Coulter has put it her typically prescient and succinct way: “The bill for globalization has just come due.” Although globalization has enabled decreased consumer costs due to economies of scale and the lower salaries of foreign workers, it is not without risks. It requires the frequent international travel that can quickly spread communicable diseases. It may also make countries dependent on essential goods and raw materials that they no longer produce on their own.
3) Human illness and disease are NOT simple and their diagnosis and management, together with the governmental policy making that they require, are NOT straight forward either. Bureaucrats, policy makers, and attorneys have, in my opinion, an extremely simplistic understanding of how diagnoses are made and how therapeutics are carried out. Many seem to feel that there are always simple algorithms that, when followed, will invariably lead to a good outcome. Ever since that master of condescension, Barack Obama, explained to the country that the “red pill is the same as the “blue pill” I have been seething with contempt for such a simple minded conception of medicine. Having practiced medicine for 35 years, I can attest that medicine and surgery are extremely complicated and are not reducible to simple algorithms. The corona virus has made this very clear. Although MOST people with corona virus are symptomatic, some are completely symptom free. Although most extremely deadly viruses are not very contagious, corona virus is. Although wearing masks was said to be unnecessary initially, they are now felt to be important. Although the virus was said to not be spread by aerosols, it is now recognized that there is aerosol spread. I could go on and on, but I think the reader gets the point: understanding even a simple virus like the Wuhan Virus is quite complicated. It should be realized that complexity is the rule in infectious disease and medicine, not the exception.
4) China is not the “good friend” that some political pundits had claimed. Although it is probably true that the Chinese government was, initially, as incredulous about the severity of this virus as the rest of the world was, in late December, 2019, when they WERE aware of the extent of the danger that the Wuhan Virus represented, they sought only to minimize the economic ramifications to China itself, and did little to let other nations know of the true severity of the disease. As a consequence, nations of the world reacted slowly and only partially to what they assumed was a minor threat. Recall how upset the European Union was when President Trump banned travelers from the EU “without consulting them.” These countries had been misinformed of the danger. China’s negligent silence strikes me as akin to that of the Soviet Union after the implosion of the Chernobyl Reactor. After that implosion, the Soviets withheld news of the catastrophe even as clouds of deadly radioactivity sailed east to the nordic countries and much of Europe. They “fessed up” only when non Russian Geiger Counters started going crazy. Any country that puts its own economic welfare over the lives of citizens in other countries must NEVER be thought of as a “friend.”
5) It is important for us (and the other nations of the world) to maintain a RESERVE of medical resources. Over the past couple of decades, the American medical system was repeatedly stripped of any and all reserve capacity. In the name of “efficiency” and cost cutting, hospital bed capacity was cut in half, and ICU’s were drastically cut back. Nurse/patient ratios were reduced to ridiculous proportions. Now, all of a sudden, everyone is asking, “Why weren’t we better prepared?” We are now, of course, doing everything possible to rebuild our capacity. Sadly, for some, it may be too late.
6) After this blows over, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) must be scrutinized and overhauled. It would seem that the CDC culture had become staid and overly doctrinaire. It must be made to be more responsive to fast moving biological threats like the Wuhan Virus.
7) “Politically correct” shibboleths such as “open borders”, “globalization”, “internationalism”, “unfettered immigration”, and “cultural equivelancy” must be recognized as the naive and reckless nostrums that they are.
Hopefully, the Wuhan Virus pandemic will be a “reality check” that we will learn from. We know that the future will send us more pandemics. We MUST be better prepared.