On the Pandemic

Sadly, the pandemic, like just about everything else in society today, has been politicized and tribalized. Naturally, this “belief by conformity to my side” blinds ideologues to what each tribe got right and wrong about COVID 19. Tribe-left said the virus was bad and we could stop it (with lockdowns, masks, social distancing, etc.). Tribe right said the virus was not bad and we couldn’t stop it. With a year’s experience and data, we can see that each side was half right. The reality is that the virus was bad and we couldn’t stop it. Over half a million Americans are dead, but non-pharmaceutical interventions appear to have made either no difference (lockdowns) or marginal difference (masking). It seems that the only way the virus could have been “stopped” was to nip it in the bud with a vigorous test and trace program in late 2019, but since that wasn’t even on the table, the pandemic was, sadly, going to take its deadly course and those who want to blame certain politicians or “opening up” don’t seem to have the facts on their side.