Fine-Tuning Infection Risks: We’re seeing lots of disagreement over whether to open society again, but I tend to agree with this Spectator USA headline, “Lockdown is over. Someone tell the government: Americans want to do whatever they feel like doing….”:
I am glad to see you write this. I am hearing too much about "conspiracy theory" and Christians, from local and global (e.g. CT) sources. I don't deny that there is a problem there, but the larger problem I see -- and understand first that I am no worshiper of science -- is that the scientific evidence regarding universal quarantine is being disregarded. The evidence suggests that this new form of quarantine does not significantly improve outcomes, and we have other evidence that it causes tremendous harm. We've hardly begun to see the fallout in our own lives, although millions have been hard hit by it already.
One trend that has been called out by those brave enough to talk about this is that scientists and medical professionals seem very reluctant to speak out about what they know and see happening. It is understandable because they know they stand to lose their jobs, their careers, and their lives as they know them if they do speak out. Consequently, most of what I have been able to learn that is new has come from retired folks (like us) that have less to lose.
The essential arguments that stand out for me are 1) that quarantine is effective for the contagiously ill, not for the general population, 2) that exposure to this virus is unavoidable, and 3) that our immune systems must be exposed to it in order for us to develop immunity. And yes, some will die, usually of other existing disease conditions sometimes complicated by this or other viruses. But death -- and even 'suspected death' -- "with" this virus has been merged with death "from" the virus, for reporting purposes, to whatever end we see playing out.
To #3 I will add that these are our God-designed-and-given immune systems and that they work extremely well for most people, even for those whose health (like mine) is compromised for one reason or another. It is also worth noting that when people stay home and avoid their normal exposures to outside microorganisms, it actively weakens their immune systems and increases the likelihood of a resurgence of the epidemic when they finally do return to work, just as the full consequences of the economic wreckage rain down upon us. On the positive side, the coronavirus season (yes, there is such a thing) typically lasts only into April, to about the time when we saw the epidemic begin to turn around.
Our immune systems protect us day and night from uncountably many microorganisms found around and within us, or we would all be quite dead. These microorganisms are not our enemies -- God put them there to sustain us, and our bodies work with and depend upon them. It is only in the denial of our Creator that we are misled to think we must treat them as invaders and make war on them. That life is a defective product of random evolution that we must improve upon in order to survive.
I am coming to better appreciate what modern idolatry is and what it means now to be blinded by God, to be "delivered … over in the desires of their hearts" and to exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship and serve what has been created instead of the Creator.
I can't help but notice a parallel between the threats that scientists and medical professionals face when they speak about these (and other) matters of health, and the dangers that some Christians have always faced when sharing the truth. There is a common enemy, and it isn't microbial.
Good stuff. About the quarantine issue, I think you may have suggested in your last last letter an Atlantic article that made the point that pandemics are not always declared over by any scientific standard, but by the general public fatigue at the imposition of restrictions. It would seem that is what happened to the world with the Spanish flu to our collective peril. It is happening now in the US (and other countries as well, although we are so oriented towards individual rights and entitlement we outperform almost all cultures in flaunting our detest for restrictions, even those that are for the public good). We seem to have passed a tipping point in that regard. Hence Prof. Bromage's article.
So as the article alludes to, whether we like it or not there is a gathering public consensus that we want the country open again, even if the result may be disastrous. I hope his analysis of the real risks (not elevator buttons, but extended proximity to infected people in enclosed spaces) will encourage those responsible for mitigating risks to enact policies and procedures that are more effective than washing hands. Requiring face masks in all work spaces may be "unmanly", but it is surely more effective than social distancing without them. Just think if the CDC would not have bought the Chinese propaganda that it isn't passed on through aerosol transmission, and thus no need for face masks. Sheer stupidity that one.
I am glad to see you write this. I am hearing too much about "conspiracy theory" and Christians, from local and global (e.g. CT) sources. I don't deny that there is a problem there, but the larger problem I see -- and understand first that I am no worshiper of science -- is that the scientific evidence regarding universal quarantine is being disregarded. The evidence suggests that this new form of quarantine does not significantly improve outcomes, and we have other evidence that it causes tremendous harm. We've hardly begun to see the fallout in our own lives, although millions have been hard hit by it already.
One trend that has been called out by those brave enough to talk about this is that scientists and medical professionals seem very reluctant to speak out about what they know and see happening. It is understandable because they know they stand to lose their jobs, their careers, and their lives as they know them if they do speak out. Consequently, most of what I have been able to learn that is new has come from retired folks (like us) that have less to lose.
The essential arguments that stand out for me are 1) that quarantine is effective for the contagiously ill, not for the general population, 2) that exposure to this virus is unavoidable, and 3) that our immune systems must be exposed to it in order for us to develop immunity. And yes, some will die, usually of other existing disease conditions sometimes complicated by this or other viruses. But death -- and even 'suspected death' -- "with" this virus has been merged with death "from" the virus, for reporting purposes, to whatever end we see playing out.
To #3 I will add that these are our God-designed-and-given immune systems and that they work extremely well for most people, even for those whose health (like mine) is compromised for one reason or another. It is also worth noting that when people stay home and avoid their normal exposures to outside microorganisms, it actively weakens their immune systems and increases the likelihood of a resurgence of the epidemic when they finally do return to work, just as the full consequences of the economic wreckage rain down upon us. On the positive side, the coronavirus season (yes, there is such a thing) typically lasts only into April, to about the time when we saw the epidemic begin to turn around.
Our immune systems protect us day and night from uncountably many microorganisms found around and within us, or we would all be quite dead. These microorganisms are not our enemies -- God put them there to sustain us, and our bodies work with and depend upon them. It is only in the denial of our Creator that we are misled to think we must treat them as invaders and make war on them. That life is a defective product of random evolution that we must improve upon in order to survive.
I am coming to better appreciate what modern idolatry is and what it means now to be blinded by God, to be "delivered … over in the desires of their hearts" and to exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship and serve what has been created instead of the Creator.
I can't help but notice a parallel between the threats that scientists and medical professionals face when they speak about these (and other) matters of health, and the dangers that some Christians have always faced when sharing the truth. There is a common enemy, and it isn't microbial.
Good stuff. About the quarantine issue, I think you may have suggested in your last last letter an Atlantic article that made the point that pandemics are not always declared over by any scientific standard, but by the general public fatigue at the imposition of restrictions. It would seem that is what happened to the world with the Spanish flu to our collective peril. It is happening now in the US (and other countries as well, although we are so oriented towards individual rights and entitlement we outperform almost all cultures in flaunting our detest for restrictions, even those that are for the public good). We seem to have passed a tipping point in that regard. Hence Prof. Bromage's article.
So as the article alludes to, whether we like it or not there is a gathering public consensus that we want the country open again, even if the result may be disastrous. I hope his analysis of the real risks (not elevator buttons, but extended proximity to infected people in enclosed spaces) will encourage those responsible for mitigating risks to enact policies and procedures that are more effective than washing hands. Requiring face masks in all work spaces may be "unmanly", but it is surely more effective than social distancing without them. Just think if the CDC would not have bought the Chinese propaganda that it isn't passed on through aerosol transmission, and thus no need for face masks. Sheer stupidity that one.