Covid-19 serious matter, but might do some good
The message is clear: Believe the coronavirus pandemic is real. Some dismiss the danger, saying in most cases it's a mild illness. True enough. However, being a new virus, it could affect at least 60% of the population at once. With a fatality rate of even 0.1 or 0.2% and a rate of 5 to 10% serious nonfatal illness, our hospital systems could be overwhelmed. It is no exaggeration to say that bodies could stack up outside the hospitals like they did in the 1918 influenza pandemic. So, we must slow the progression. Social distancing, closures of public places, shelter-in-place can do this. It should be mandatory.
The economic effect cannot be underestimated. Not only will economic livings be lost, but also lives will be lost. And the sooner we get back to some degree of economic activity, the less damage to the economy and to our lives. The keys to that return is slowing the spread of the virus and widespread coronavirus testing of asymptomatic people.
When people can find out if they've been exposed and are immune, they can go back to normal activity. The federal government could take the lead on widespread free testing and also assure that paper masks are cheap and available. This could allow us to go out with some degree of protection.
However, here's a spiritual and cultural dimension to this. In the long run, it may be the most consequential. This pandemic will pass, but what will we be like afterwards?
We are realizing we are all interconnected. We humans all have basically the same immune systems, the basic DNA, the same basic needs, and we're all related. For example, the Chinese are not our enemy, they are our human brothers and sisters. We need them and they need us. We are way past the time that one nation, any nation, can solve all its problems by itself. The world is too interconnected now. Our economies, our health are all interdependent.
The danger of us becoming more xenophobic, nationalistic and insular is very real. If this insane radical nationalism in the U.S. and the world continues, people could begin tearing each other apart like we did in the early and mid-20th century. That sickness could become a pandemic in its own right. History tells us it could be more destructive than the coronavirus.
As Benjamin Franklin said in 1776, "We must all hang together or we will surely all hang separately!" We've got to abandon tribal politics in this country and work together. We've got to get over our residual racism, be it bias against Caucasian, black, Asian or Latino. Divisiveness is dangerous. We must be more tolerant of those whose religious beliefs are different than ours, Christians and non-Christians alike. Coronavirus attacks all of us equally.
If we learn these lessons well, this coronavirus pandemic could actually save us from ourselves.
George Benjamin
Siloam Springs
Commentary on 04/06/2020