We have all heard daily televised reports from President Trump, Vice President Pence and the rest of the coronavirus task force about the progressing covid-19 pandemic and its terrible effects on our country and other nations, and the expanding statistics of suffering and death, country by country.
The tendency to reduce this worldwide disaster to numbers and age groups has somewhat blunted its effects on our collective psyche. The combination of fear and seeming impotence in the face of this plague has affected the response of many, to the point of incapacitating us to some extent.
Even the good advice to use "social distancing" and "sheltering in place" seems--and speaking practically, is--inadequate. It emphasizes our fallibility and inability to protect ourselves, our families, and our neighbors. While passive, its effectiveness is too easily negated through "normal" interpersonal contacts.
Moreover, I have detected, in some, an inability to form a reasonable response to suggested answers to the question of survival, let alone continuing life as free and independent Americans (and Arkansans) and members of a society born in the struggle to escape tyranny and fear. We see and hear of such acts as hoarding of food, medications and other necessities of life, and wonder, "Who could do such a thing? And why?"
I see strange motives that seem to direct the actions of government officials who should be marshalling resources toward combating this pestilence, treating those who have been made ill, and attempting to combat the spread of the covid-19. Instead of clearly directing shipments of supplies from stockpiles to hospital bedsides for use, days and weeks have passed with reports of diminishing necessary equipment and protective wear and weak reasons for the failure to provide.
Concomitant expressions of hope of a quick relaxation of strict precautions and returning to "normalcy" lead to suspicions that the assured supplies are actually only lip service and not acknowledgement of intentions to fulfill the needs of personnel attending to the victims of the viral infection. The haste to return to usual practices seems to threaten the efforts and counsel by epidemiologists such as Dr. Anthony Fauci to follow logical medical thought to determine the level of efforts to stop the spread of the covid-19.
This is our time, our generation's opportunity to demonstrate that we are truly the offspring of our forebears who fought for the life we have, this "shining city on a hill," that we are worthy of the challenge, and we have the will to preserve America for our grandchildren.
We have better tools today to combat the spread of disease than any previous generation could. Science has advanced to an astounding degree, both in the knowledge of pathogens and human response, and the ability to form therapies to combat agents of disease.
But science must be given precedence over "gut reactions" if we are to be able to protect ourselves. Not only virology, but also epidemiology and public health knowledge and expertise must be brought to bear without political interference and pandering. As an example, Trump's insistence on the trial of antimalarial and antibacterial medications against this viral agent makes no sense, in spite of his gut feeling that it might work. This is only a false hope at best, and a misdirected expenditure of time and resources.
The numbers of cases and deaths are mounting daily from all corners of our nation, our world and our state. The fight is not in or with China or Iran or Russia. It is here and now, in our streets, and on our doorstep.
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Dennis A. Berry is a retired microbiologist, medical laboratory technologist, and epidemiologist from the Arkansas Department of Health.
Editorial on 03/27/2020