The following is commentary intended for discussion. Add your comments!
Throughout time, there have been commonsense observations about health and medicine that turned out to be correct — even though they were contrary to what prevailing scientific opinion was.
Sometimes, it’s almost as if very smart medical experts don’t see the forest for the trees. It’s as if their noses are stuck in the books studying estimates and theories, and they are missing what is really going on right in front of their eyes.
How many times have our health officials had to correct and amend what they said or thought, not only on Covid-19 but on other health threats?
Of course, that’s to be expected when we’re learning new things. On the front end of the Covid-19 pandemic, everything was pretty theoretical.
Yet, a year later, we need to open our eyes and be willing to see around us to be sure we are learning from our actual experiences.
Looking at Covid measures as I’ve travelled extensively around the U.S. the past year, I’ve been to many places that didn’t do lockdowns after March. Yet they reported no surges.
In numerous places I visited, there were not many people wearing masks. In several places I visited, they started school as usual last fall and kept churches and businesses open (with most people not wearing masks there, either).
No surges or remarkable spikes.
Meantime, we hear or see on the news many other places that have been very restricted for a year and cannot seem to escape their spikes.
If I ran one of those cities, I would want to know if something we were doing could be making matters worse instead of better. Is it time to consider changing approaches? I would want to know more about the experiences of the places that lived more normal lives and fared better in term of illness.
It could very well be that different types and sizes of cities and towns require different approaches. Even that acknowledgment would seem to be important.
What do you think?
