COVID resumes its status as our principle source of national division
People are getting sick and dying in greater numbers again, but digging in heels seems a lot more important to some than seriously addressing it
With each passing day, 2020 continues to live up to its status as a uniquely tumultuous year. The three biggest ongoing factors making it so - the pandemic and subsequent economic and cultural fallout, and the string of police shootings that have led to months of civil unrest and the question of race inserting itself into every institution in society, and a Supreme Court vacancy mere weeks before the election - have been so ubiquitous that some longer-standing crises breathing down the nation’s neck - the debt and deficit, as well as the machinations of hostile regimes ranging from Russia to China to Iran to North Korea - have been shunted off to the side of America’s radar screen.
As the current election cycle enters its final stretch, it appears - barring some unforeseen catalyst of new turmoil, always a possibility in 2020 - that the pandemic is re-emerging as the most prominent of these challenges.
Donald Trump, whose rhetoric on the campaign trail in recent days has taken on tones of desperation and resignation, has returned to the theme he spent the spring focusing on. He wants everything opened up without qualification, saying, “People are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They’re tired of it.” He’s even referred to his own administration’s health officials as idiots.
The elevation of Scott Atlas over Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx on the task force continues. Birx recently spoke candidly with the office of task force leader Vice President Mike Pence about it, flat-out stating she doesn’t trust Atlas.
Atlas is a big fan of the recently announced Great Barrington Statement, an open letter drafted by some undeniably credentialed public-health authorities and signed by others (along with some outright silly members of the general public) that brings the notion of “herd immunity” back to the fore of the discussion about the virus.
Pushback on its advocacy of complete and immediate opening anything and everything, from schools and workplaces to sports and music venues to restaurants, has been swift and forthright. Anti-Great Barrington experts stress that we still don’t know that antibody responses might not decay rapidly, that there’s a more-than-subtle tone of apartheid in the proposal to afford those over 65 less mobility than everyone else, and ignoring evidence that young people who contract COVID and get over it quickly can later suffer long-term respiratory damage.
There’s also the question of how to determine vulnerability with enough specificity to properly isolate, or liberate from isolation, anyone in society.
Since the Great Barrington Declaration is based on the Swedish model for dealing with coronavirus, it’s worth noting that cases in that nation are at their highest since June, and that the level of prevalence of the virus in Sweden’s wastewater suggests that this statistic is not merely the result of lots of testing.
It may be that some surprise will surface in one of the other two most trying matters of 2020, some new revelation in Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination, or, God forbid, some new catalyst for yet more inter-demographic mistrust and polarization. Maybe there will be some eleventh-hour development on the world stage.
It looks, though, like the big debate that will take us into the chill of November is going to be over what to do about this unprecedented public-health crisis.
The over-the-top and juvenile rhetoric of Donald Trump in recent days has provided room for some self-congratulation and grandstanding on the part of his political opponents. “We’re the ones who make sense” is an easy position to take when the president has doubled down on his recklessness.
More concerning, because they represent a considerable swath of our society, are those who comprise Trump’s fan base and are reflexively discrediting the likes of Anthony Fauci, extending no grace to those whose position is that we are all facing an utterly new phenomenon and must proceed carefully. At this late date, no one is pushing for another March-style lockdown, and it is disingenuous to insinuate as much. But to suggest that everyone but those determined to be frail by - well, by whom, exactly? Those pushing for Great Barrington-style “normalcy” are customarily not fond of the state imposing categorizations on people that affect their mobility - hit the beaches, bars, shop floors and sports arenas yet this afternoon is more preposterous and unachievable than a course of proceeding with caution, making changes based on what we learn along the way.
A pandemic that is laying low Trumpists, leftists, libertarians and Burkean conservatives with no regard for their differences has failed to bring us together the way previous national crises have done. In fact, it’s our principle source of division as we prepare to decide on new leaders and legislators. It’s all so 2020.