Much has been said about the Coronavirus pandemic by many experts and experienced leaders. I have little expertise in medicine or disease. I am just a layperson about medicine and reacting to this pandemic like many other citizens around the world have done.
My reaction adds little to what have already been expressed. It might just add a little more perspective from one individual's point of view.
Several years ago, my family and I went to visit a park here in the U.S. On that day, I learned for the first time about a poisonous plant in the park. We had young kids with us. So, it was an unexpected surprise in the morning of what was planned to be a day for leisure in a park. Unsurprisingly, there was a direction displayed in the middle of the park, presumably with the knowledge of the park's warden.
Taking the time to read it and learning that not touching the plant meant avoiding a potential fatality eased the unexpected surprise of that day. We quickly became knowledgeable about it and the day went as planned. There were so many other visitors to the park; we noticed that there were many families in the park who were knowledgeable about this particular plant in the park and cautioned their family members about it when they were in its vicinity.
When I heard about the nature of the virus that is the cause of this 2020 pandemic, I drew a quick analogy between creating a physical space between the virus and an unaffected human being as much as possible while caring for the affected and between the poisonous plant and any human being.
After listening to many experts and experienced leaders about this pandemic, this approach appears irrefutable to reduce the fatality that it has caused and is going to cause in the coming days, weeks, and beyond.
As much as a park's warden can prepare a clear direction for creating a physical space between any human being and a poisonous plant in a public park, I do not think that it should be lost to any official in a position of public responsibility of disease control to help the public understand the rationale for creating a physical space between this virus and any unaffected human being by the virus, starting from the day the outbreak became a reality. When anyone in a position of such responsibility has been around since 1984, I would imagine that such level of clarity comes naturally. I would also imagine that such level of clarity leads anyone to express it at the top of his lungs to any commander in chief who is in a position to effectuate it across the board or resign if not heard and raise public awareness even more.
Recently, I heard that a long time Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the U.S. stated that the virus that has become the cause of this pandemic controls its timeline.
I take issue with that assertion because of the following reasons.
1. Coronavirus is practically immobile by itself outside a human body.
2. Humans have a primary or secondary capability to control their mobility.
3. A human body and Coronavirus can not coexist indefinitely without the domination of the former over the latter.
Granted that these three simple statements are arguably correct, we can deduce that Coronavirus is incapable to control the timeline of its pandemic.
I fully understand that its microscopic nature makes controlling it overwhelming. Ironically, its primary means of mobility, a human being, is not microscopic and can be used and should be able to be used as a proxy for the microbe. At the risk of being biased merely because both of us are originally from the same country, I take note that the use of that proxy, which is testing, is what the current Director of the World Health Organization was expressing early on at the top of his lungs. He has been in this position for less than three years now. So, testing indirectly controls its timeline. This means that the assertion that Coronavirus controls the timeline of its pandemic by any stretch of the imagination implies that it must consist of some intelligent level of mutation that is capable of evading testing and evolving after it, which is naturally unlikely.
I do not think that these simple ideas would be missed on the part of public officials in a position of and experienced with disease control for about 36 years. If they are missed, that would amount to a dereliction of public duty.
Various public servants are expressing that this pandemic will change their generation. Public duty is a noble duty that is not generational but eternal, as is civilization. Humanity will progress past this pandemic, which will be a chapter in the book of eternity. Sadly, a dereliction of public duty has and will cost many lives unnecessarily. The frailty of human faculty costing so many lives unnecessarily is unfathomable.