I'll admit that there will be no easy solutions to mitigating what is becoming a bigger wave of COVID-19 cases. However, one idea that was floated Wednesday would result in the most radical set of restrictions we've seen yet.
Shutting down businesses and paying people for lost wages for four to six weeks could help keep the coronavirus pandemic in check and get the economy on track until a vaccine is approved and distributed, said Dr. Michael Osterholm, a coronavirus advisor to President-elect Joe Biden.
Osterholm, who serves as director of the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said earlier this week that the country is headed toward “Covid hell.” Cases are rising as more people grow tired of wearing masks and social distancing, suffering from so-called “pandemic fatigue,” he said Wednesday. Colder weather is also driving people indoors, where the virus can spread more easily.
A nationwide lockdown would drive the number of new cases and hospitalizations down to manageable levels while the world awaits a vaccine, he told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday.
“We could pay for a package right now to cover all of the wages, lost wages for individual workers, for losses to small companies, to medium-sized companies or city, state, county governments. We could do all of that,” he said. “If we did that, then we could lock down for four to six weeks.”
While Dr. Osterholm's idea is worthy of consideration due to his expertise in epidemiology, he clearly lacks any grasp on economics. With America's national debt fast approaching $30 trillion with no slowdown in sight, what kind of unconscionable number would it require to pay people not to work for 4-6 weeks???? And we've already learned of the adverse impact lockdowns have on kids as well as those Americans enduring mental illness. I'm afraid 4-6 weeks of extreme isolation could potentially inflict more harm than catching the virus itself.
In addressing how we've gone backwards since the pandemic began approximately eight months ago, a lot of government officials (specifically Gov. Tim Walz here in Minnesota) essentially blamed the citizens (emphasizing small gatherings in homes) for not strictly adhering to the various COVID mandates handed down. And while I do believe some citizens have let their guard down over the past few months, our self-anointed betters within government don't seem to be taking much of a gander in the mirror.
Within the first two months of the pandemic, people largely went along with the shelter-in-place orders as well as mask mandates, and we had the economic damage (e.g. high unemployment claims, businesses faltering, etc.) to prove it. However, in late May, the viral video of George Floyd being killed while in the custody of Minneapolis police inflamed Americans to the point that there were large demonstrations occurring on a daily basis throughout the summer. The vast majority of those gatherings saw no physical distancing and middling mask usage, yet the harsh condemnations that hit the protesting of lockdowns in April were conspicuously absent for significantly larger protests in the name of "social justice." The fact a global pandemic became almost an afterthought in the summer months didn't escape the attention of some prominent epidemiologists. I said at the time that future lockdown proposals are going to lack severe credibility given many government officials (especially Walz) didn't even issue a warning about the inherent risk posed by large crowds decrying racial injustice. No one can deny that such issues are important to address, but a virus doesn't magically steer clear of large gatherings which are deemed more righteous than others.
For those so anxious to have the year 2020 done and over with, I'm afraid 2021 isn't going to be the dramatic upgrade we're hoping for.
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