May 22, 2020 – Absolute Rights During a Pandemic

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We’re about two months in to the restrictions put in place in response to the pandemic. People have been pretty much been told to stay home. If you have to go out then wear a mask. Businesses have closed down. School years have ended early. Sports seasons have been disrupted and delayed. The arguments have started for opening things back up. Some feel that the economic pain is worse than the potential of spreading COVID-19. They point to indicators that say we’re going into recession. Remember 2008? This will be worse. It already is. Some argue that we should let people get infected and build “herd immunity.” They point to Sweden as the poster child for this approach. But Sweden’s own state epidemiologist Dr. Anders Tegnell is on the record as saying their approach won’t work everywhere and they’re counting on the people who are at greatest risk (older folks

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"...the plural of anecdote is not data." --Stefan Richter

May 7, 2020 – The Plural of Anecdote…

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The thought for today comes from Stefan Richter and was found on Facebook. It was part of a lengthy take down of an anti-vax COVID-19 conspiracy theory video that was making the rounds in social media. Our governmental health agencies have let us down by not clearly communicating the risks and our best responses to the pandemic. As a result they’ve left room for conspiracy theorists to push their own agendas, political and otherwise. Health is supposed to be something we can all aspire to. If not, then what are all those platitudes about “if you don’t have your health you don’t have anything” about? Apparently, some people see other people as expendable. Have a chronic illness? A disability? Are you old? Well, then… It’s not too big a leap to land on are you poor? Uneducated? Brown skinned? From somewhere else? Apparently, some people don’t see others as equal

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