Notes from the Plague – Lessons Learned?

Playground Off Limits, Columbia, MD (7 April 2020)

Self-isolation and social distancing continue. There is little news in the paper or on TV other than about Coronavirus. I have not heard Rudy Giuliani’s name in weeks. The Interweb is awash in toilet paper jokes. This too shall pass…I hope.

When the weather permits, I take a bike ride through the neighborhood. The town has tried to restrict access to facilities that bring people too close together. Even playgrounds and tot lots are off limits.

We’ve had it so good for so long here in modern, Exceptional America. My grandpa told me about things that happened long ago and not since. It’s easy to believe some nasty things would never happen again.

Now, I’m the grandpa…not actually, but I am older than the average bear. I can tell you about the polio scares in the 50’s and how society was tense and social behaviors changed. But polio is an example that actually didn’t happen again here because resources were committed to finding a vaccine. The crippling disease is actually a thing of the past.

But wait.

While polio has been eradicated in the U.S. since 1979, it can still be found in undeveloped parts of the world. In 2003, some religious leaders in Nigeria declared that the polio vaccine was really a way for outside powers to make their children sterile. Extremists even murdered health care workers to prevent vaccinations. That’s how ignorance can kill as easily as the disease.

Oh to be in the Yellow Tape Business, Columbia, MD (7 April 2020)

As I write this, we still have not hit the peak of the curve. When the story of the national response is written, especially with regard to the performance of the president, the conclusions will not be glowing. The president has been slow, inept and willfully ignorant of the science that should support a proper course of action. This is what happens when a ratings-hungry narcissist is in charge and the main qualification for his staff is loyalty rather than expertise.

That means that their priority is NOT telling the president what he needs to hear, but instead keeping anything from him that will upset him. Word is the Toddler in Chief throws tantrums whenever he hears something he doesn’t like. Poor baby.

No Kids Allowed, Columbia, MD (7 April 2020)

When I was a student, way back in the last century, an eminent ecologist, Robert MacArthur, referred to what he called the ‘Titanic Effect,’ our tendency NOT to respond to pressing needs until a disaster happens first.

Better ships were built AFTER the ‘Unsinkable’ ocean liner went down.
Fire protection laws were modernized AFTER the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
My ‘Molotov Cocktail’ Ford Pinto was improved AFTER too many people were incinerated following rear-end collisions (and Ford was sued).

Maybe, when we recover from this pandemic, some common sense will prevail and REAL ‘lessons learned’ will be codified into our national governance. Agencies will be led by experts. Budgets and resources will be allocated with established policies that reflect their importance to our nation’s health and welfare.

Is that asking too much?