Stand Here, No Here, Over There, Not Here…
The quest continues to pursue a return to “normal” in spite of the ever-changing facts of science and how we adjust our actions in response. There is plenty of blame to go around, red, blue, green, yellow – pick your favorite color of the rainbow to blame. However, while blame may satisfy our ego in determining whose fault this all is, blame does not fix our problems. Our own actions of personal self-care through self-responsibility are the key to our better health and happiness.
The root causes of our public healthcare hesitancy, comes from a growing distrust of our government and medical experts that often never seem to agree on any course of action and what is fact or science. I think there will always be opposition to government intervention, depending upon the issue and who it affects the most. However, in the case of the current pandemic, the distrust has grown seemingly across many demographics. In my humble opinion I think there have been numerous times where government leaders (politicians and medical experts) stated a particular direction and then soon after changed that course. When this continued to happened over the last 2 years, the public trust eroded rapidly to where we are at today.
- In late 2019, government leaders said the US was fine and had no worries with the Covid19 virus, as it was contained in China. People were encourage to enjoy the holidays and not be afraid. Obviously it was not contained and Covid19 made its way to the US in early 2020 and probably even earlier in late 2019.
- Shutting down the US borders in early 2020, in response to Covid19, was considered xenophobic. Late in 2021, the US restricted foreign travelers entry due to the Omicron variant and xenophobia was barely mentioned by leaders and news outlets.
- Similarly, early in 2020 theories of a possible virus leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were seen as racist, xenophobic and the product of conspiracy fanatics. Later in 2020, some US leaders and the World Health Organization were supporting investigation of the Wuhan lab, albeit a day late and a dollar short.
- In early 2020 Americans were directed by the government and medical experts to lock-down at home for 2 weeks to “flatten the curve”, referring to the spike in cases hopefully leveling off with a relatively short amount of time. Instead, lock-downs continued in some areas, off and on for the next 12 months.
- In December of 2020, then president elect Joe Biden stated if he became president that he would not mandate Covid19 vaccination mandates. In early September of 2021 President Biden mandated vaccines for all businesses of 100 or more employees.
- The CDC has changed its direction numerous times on masking, distancing, quarantine duration and other relative information. As scientific data changed, so did the CDC’s confusing guidance on quarantining from 10 days to 5 days. However, this change was implemented during a massive increase in infections of the Omicron variant during the end of 2021. More infections nationwide, but less quarantine time led many people to believe the changes were more politically motivated and not science-based, in order to keep people working in healthcare, retail, etc. to maintain the economy through the holidays and coming winter months where many other illnesses often flourish.
Understanding that science is a process and not a belief system, can help us to better understanding that science is an evolving process of research, discovery and conclusions – that will all continue to change as time proceeds forward.
People do pay attention to what government leaders say and often try to hold them to their words. Continuously changing information and direction, if not distributed consistently and with transparency leads to more distrust. I think that it will be very difficult for the US government and medical experts to regain the trust of the American people any time soon. If there was perhaps some transparency, sense of humility or humbleness by leaders, confirming that they really don’t know exactly how to handle our national (and worldwide) crisis, but that they are doing their best and have a ways yet to go, it would maybe instill some level of hope in people.
Regardless of vaccination status, social distancing and masking for the greater good, other lifestyle vices too have a ripple effect on our heathcare system & personal well being. If a poor diet, smoking, being stressed all day, drug/alcohol abuse, being overweight/obese, etc. only affects that person, realize that the whole healthcare system takes a hit for these “bad behaviors” as well . This puts a strain on the whole system causing inefficiency due to the shear numbers of ill people or by issues impacting others around you through stress, money, time & other resources. Those relying solely on pharmaceuticals to stay sick-free, still should eat healthier, be active, get sunlight & fresh air, stop smoking, manage stress – in other words “build their natural immunity”. Shouldn’t natural immunity through living a healthier lifestyle be promoted to keep the next virus or pathogen at bay? The top causes of death in the US (cancer, heart & lung disease) and root causes can often be managed through lifestyle choices. Scientific data has proven that the majority of deaths related to Covid19 are from people who had multiple comorbidities, exacerbating death not from Covid19 but rather death with Covid19. More than 81% of COVID-19 related deaths occur in people over age 65. The number of deaths among people over age 65 is 80 times higher than the number of deaths among people aged 18-29.
Maybe it’s time for us to reevaluate what normal is and choose to not go back to it, but rather move towards healthier, smarter, wiser.
Be well, become healthy, be wise.
References:
Post, Lori & Issa, Tariq & Boctor, Michael & Moss, Charles & Murphy, Robert & Ison, Michael & Achenbach, Chad & Resnick, Danielle & Singh, Lauren & White, Janine & Faber, Joshua & Culler, Kasen & Brandt, Cynthia & Oehmke, James. (2020). Dynamic Public Health Surveillance to Track and Mitigate the US COVID-19 Epidemic: Longitudinal Trend Analysis Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 22. e24286. 10.2196/24286. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347798855_Dynamic_Public_Health_Surveillance_to_Track_and_Mitigate_the_US_COVID-19_Epidemic_Longitudinal_Trend_Analysis_Study
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1227-isolation-quarantine-guidance.html
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#Comorbidities
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html
https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/121919-1Links to an external site.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55193939
https://slideplayer.com/slide/11903493/
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