"All countries must strike a fine balance between protecting health, minimizing economic and social disruption, and respecting human rights."
If someone could summarize the challenge that lies before us right now as a society with respect to coronavirus containment, the above words (in my opinion) could hardly be improved upon.
Strike a fine balance. Therein lies the great challenge. And here is where extremism, panic, exaggerated reaction, and simple ignorance all lead us astray.
Maybe the most obvious example of the difficulty we have to "strike a fine balance" is in the area of isolation, or social distancing. By separating ourselves from one another, the virus is limited to those already infected, and will simply run its course, most will recover fine, and the pandemic will be done. To read the advice coming from some news sources...this is the absolutely most brilliant and perfect idea. Everybody just hunker down, work from home, and ride this out on your stocked-up supplies for 14 days (or longer).
Sounds perfect.
And it is no surprise that this sort of advice tends to be promoted heavily by journalists and media who have jobs that frankly can be done from anywhere (to a large extent). It seems perfect to them. And it seems to also be the preferred solutions to thousands of others who already work from home or who have jobs that will not be materially impacted if they simply stay home and work.
But that solution fails, from my perspective, to "strike the fine balance" we need. It fails to take into consideration that millions of Americans work in jobs that simply cannot be done from home. Shall we tell all our law enforcement officers to work from home? All healthcare workers? Hospitals? Pharmacies? Nursing homes? Should we simply shut down all retail operations for a month? Power supply? Auto mechanics? Medical supply distributors? Do people even realize that this would mean bankruptcy for hundreds of thousands of small businesses and hourly employees?
Radical social distancing sounds good in theory. But for many it is simply impractical. For a civilized society it is impossible.
I have read well-meaning religious leaders telling people that staying home for 2 weeks is the way "to love your neighbor" so they don't get infected. If you love your neighbor, they say, you will isolate yourself and prevent the spread of this virus. Even if you aren't sick, you may be carrying it, so stay home. Don't risk it, just because you are young and healthy and will recover...thy neighbor may not. So stay home. It is the "loving" thing to do.
Really? Is it that easy to say? Is the choice really that simple? Are those who choose to employ radical social distancing "loving" their neighbors, and everyone else does not? My question is this: which neighbor are you referring to? The neighbor who survives on tips at the local diner to pay her rent? The neighbor who lives paycheck to paycheck at the local donut shop? The neighbor who runs a small business in town for whom the reduced customer levels have already pushed him to the brink of bankruptcy? The neighbor who didn't have the funds to stockpile and hoard food or paper products and actually needs to get to an open grocery store to replenish staples in her home? Is your voluntary isolation from the community for a couple weeks a way of loving THEM?
The problem with the radical isolation, or the social distancing solution, is that it simply does not strike the balance needed to maintain our economy, though it would likely reduce the rate and lower the peak of coronavirus infection. It loves some neighbors, but not others. It promotes infection control, but is economically unsound. I do not believe it is appropriate if our goal is also to "minimize economic and social disruption."
People are free to think this through on their own and come up with their own plan. But if I were to be asked about how to respond to social distancing it is this:
1) Stay home if you are sick, coughing, sneezing, have a fever or have had direct contact with a confirmed coronavirus patient.
2) Practice very good personal hygiene. Wash your hands a lot. Break the habit of touching your face with your hands if at all possible. Cover coughs and sneezes.
3) If, in fact, you work in a job that you CAN work from home...great! Do it.
4) Please do not forget that many individuals and businesses are on the verge of financial collapse because of this pandemic. Love them too. Patronize them when you can and how you can.
I know that striking the balance is hard. I know that unfortunately a lot of people in our society won't take the common sense approach of staying home if they are sick. Maybe some can't. The result will be the spread of the virus and more sickness and more death. I'm grateful that well-meaning individuals promoting radical isolation do not want to see our hospitals and health systems overrun with sick patients that we have no room to treat. I get it.
But social isolation has it's limits. There is a balance to strike. There is more than just the medical health of our society at stake. I'm sure I don't have all the answers. I'm sure that striking the balance is a moving target. These are hard decisions to make as individuals let alone as a nation.
Pray for our nation, for our world and for all who are sick or caring for them. God bless!
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