The lockdown-based approach recommended by our Federal government public health leaders[1] and imposed by state governors has been excessively restrictive because[2] it…
⦁ Requires the same behavior of everyone, regardless of the risk to each individual that they will die from COVID-19.
⦁ Is based on the presumption that the government (or even a person’s employer) should make the decision about how much risk is acceptable for each of us and our families, when the approach becomes the basis for state or local laws or executive orders or employer policy.
The economic damage to our economy is worsening at an exponential rate. Because of its phased nature and requirements for moving from phase-to-phase, Opening Up American Again won’t get us back to work in time to stop that exponentially increasing damage.
Instead, states, counties and cities that want to recover from an economic perspective most safely and quickly should take the following fundamental approach to reopening their economies (no phasing desired or required). They should:
Since 1993
STOP
Using the one-size-fits all, conventional epidemiological approaches, (such as indiscriminate mass personal isolation) that…
⦁ May have worked for less serious epidemics but are not up to the task of solving the COVID-19 crisis,
⦁ Treat us all like we are 80 years old with pre-existing lung disease.
⦁ Have forced tens of millions into unemployment and destroyed millions of small businesses.
Refusing to make treatment options such as Hydroxychloroquine a central part of our strategy.
Allowing our state and local officials to strip us of our constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and religion in the name of fighting COVID-19.
Focusing to such a large extent on lowering the number of reported cases of COVID-19.
Allowing government officials to destroy our economy, healthcare system and liberties based on mathematical models that repeatedly have been grossly inaccurate.
Throwing multi trillion-dollar Federal stimulus bills at the problem. In many respects, they don’t work, cause more problems than they solve, and would be unnecessary if we let the vast majority of working Americans get back to work immediately.
Claiming that COVID-19 is primarily responsible for our economic problems.
Start
Tailoring their approach by making different recommendations to people in groups that do or do not have the various pre-existing medical conditions that make them more susceptible to death or permanent damage to their health from COVID-19.
Make treatment options such as Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin a central part of our strategy.
Giving our citizens comprehensive and accurate information about the risks they face and allow them to make decisions about how they live, work, and play, based on that information and their own preferences.
Focusing much more on reducing the numbers of deaths and serious permanent health damage as well as population death and hospitalization rates over time.
Insisting that our leaders verify the accuracy of the mathematical models they use, collect much more comprehensive data, and make it available to the public in easily accessible formats that are updated daily at state and national levels.
Getting the vast majority of Americans back to work immediately. If we do, the need for this unnecessary, wasteful spending will goes away.
Realizing that most economic damage has been caused by the state-level government response.
All wars, especially wars against existential threats to our way of life (and COVID-19 is one of those threats), involve finding a balance between competing, critically important goals, two of which are:
⦁ Winning the war in a way that preserves our way of life. Two critical aspects of our way of life include…
⦁ The vibrancy of our economy[1]
⦁ The freedoms that are central to our lives as United States citizens.
⦁ Minimizing casualties, especially deaths.
Minimizing casualties means that we should still do everything we can to protect our healthcare professionals who are treating COVID-19 patients. We must make every effort to give them the protection and tools that they need. But we must also not impose restrictions that cripple our economy that are aimed primarily at reducing infection rates among the very low-risk parts of our population, and that have little, if any impact on COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates.
In past military wars against existential threats, winning in a way that preserved our way of live was the primary objective. Minimizing casualties was subordinate but very important. But our current senior government medical administrators appear to prioritize minimize casualties using their historically conventional epidemiological approaches over everything else. Dr. Fauci has gone beyond just appearing to endorse those priorities; he’s effectively said as much publicly.
If the equivalent of Dr. Fauci’s recommendations had driven the United States’ approach to World War II, we would have insisted on fighting that war with the same weapons, strategy and tactics that we used to win World War I (the French tried that with the Maginot Line, and it did not end well for them). Instead, The Greatest Generation rallied during World War II to develop new weapons, strategy, and tactics that fit the new and much more potent threat that they actually faced.
Members of The Greatest Generation are being killed by COVID-19 in greatly disproportional numbers. The very least that the rest of us can do, is to remember the lessons that their example (about how they fought Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan) teaches us with respect to how we fight COVID-19.
The survival of our country as we know it depends on finding some way to do this.
© Vertex Decisions, LLC
[1] Many have objected to giving priority to economic concerns with some form of the argument that “Lives are more important that money.” But this is a false choice. What they really mean is that lives lost in the short term are more important than the extremely destructive, potentially permanent damage to our economy, and the lives that damage will cost further in the future. Lives lost in the future are hidden costs that almost never make the evening news. Poorer nations are unhealthier nations. That economic damage caused by the approach that many of our state governors are mandating may well cost more lives in their states in the long run than the number of deaths directly caused by the COVID-19 crisis that we are now suffering.
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