Bethany Mandel, one of the editors at Ricochet, on Wednesday shared a thread on Twitter about the Wuhan coronavirus and the need to "flatten the curve." From the start of this pandemic, Americans were told to practice social distancing, wash their hands and stay at home as much as possible. At first we were told to do this for 15 days... then 30. Now it's beginning to seem like a never-ending cycle.
Even though most areas of the country have reached their peak number of cases and deaths associated from the Wuhan coronavirus, some state and local governments are deciding their residents should remain in lockdown. The problem though? They have no idea of when they plan to reopen. They have no idea exactly what they're waiting for before they decide to let people go about their everyday lives.
It's as though these government officials fail to remember what the term "flatten the curve" means. The goal was to keep the virus from spreading as much as possible. We were told to do this because our health care system could not possibly handle the number of people who would get sick. It was estimated that 2.2 million people would die. That number currently sits at a little less than 75,000.
We were also told that we would see a shortage of ventilators for those who turned up sick. And again, that didn't happen.
Most Americans are ready to get back to work. They've done their part. They've stayed home. They've practiced social distancing and proper hygiene. But people are out of work. Businesses are going under. People are losing their livelihoods. Millions have filed for unemployment. What they want – and need – isn't a government handout but the ability to go back to work.
Mandel did an excellent job of explaining that sentiment:
Remember when we were told we had to flatten the curve and we’d lockdown for a few weeks to ramp up PPE and free up ventilators or else we’d have to start death panels? When did that turn into indefinite lockdowns and economic destruction because “if it saves one life?”
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 6, 2020
This isn’t about greed. It’s survival. People can’t buy food or pay rent or mortgages. Small businesses are closing. Dentists and doctors are going into the red. Schools are going to start closing. This is the destruction of society we’re talking about.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 6, 2020
There will be no pediatricians or general doctors or physical therapists or nurses or home health aides. No dentists. No zoos or aquariums. No private schools. No restaurants or caterers. No hairdressers or nail technicians. No gyms. No summer camps or daycares.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 6, 2020
We never had ventilator shortages. My local pediatric ER converted to a COVID ward and now sits empty. What are we waiting on here? I’d genuinely like an answer. A vaccine? Because if that’s it, our society will be absolutely wrecked in the meantime.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 6, 2020
You can call me a Grandma killer. I’m not sacrificing my home, food on the table, all of our docs and dentists, every form of pleasure (museums, zoos, restaurants), all my kids’ teachers in order to make other people comfortable. If you want to stay locked down, do. I’m not.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 6, 2020
Doesn’t mean it won’t be done responsibly but I am just. I am done. I feel lied to about the terms of this lockdown and I regret ever trusting that it would be done responsibly.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 6, 2020
As President Donald Trump said: the cure can't be worse than the disease. We can't send our country into a full-on depression because some people might get sick and some people might die.
The longer we stay locked down the more we're facing other types of crises: starvation, neglect, suicide and mental illness, to name a few.
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