Vice Admiral Jerome Adams, the nation’s surgeon general, has predicted the coming week may well prove a generation-defining moment for the United States. Appearing on a Sunday morning network news program, he foresaw it as the “the hardest and the saddest” so far of the COVID-19 pandemic in lives lost, and compared it to Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
That’s heady stuff but for anyone who has been paying attention not surprising. The key point is that the current upheaval and its terrible losses represent the beginning of a conflict, not the end of one or even the beginning of an end. More than 2,400 people were killed at Pearl Harbor. Nearly 3,000 on 9/11. Today, the U.S. coronavirus death toll has surpassed 10,000, nearly twice the fatalities of those two events combined.
Hasn’t that message sunk in by now? Aren’t we all aware of this reality? Of the necessity of staying at home and of social distancing so that our health care facilities aren’t overwhelmed and our limited supply of respirators not exhausted? That a cure is unavailable? That we were ill-prepared for a global pandemic and the consequences of that continue to be apparent? Clearly, for some it has but for too many it hasn’t. In that light, it may be time to remind us all what to do — and what not to do — when lives are so clearly on the line.
First, leave the medicine to the medical professionals. For those who caught some of President Donald Trump’s recent coronavirus task force briefings, it’s time someone grabbed the microphone from the commander in chief before he causes any more harm. Trump keeps touting the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, as a treatment for COVID-19 yet, as experts like Dr. Anthony S. Fauci have repeatedly pointed out, it’s not at all clear it works. The benefits are, at best, “suggestive,” as the immunologist likes to say. But that’s not good enough for Trump, who interrupted Dr. Fauci when he was about to make this very point during Sunday’s White House briefing. “He’s answered that question 15 times,” insisted the president who has publicly shilled for hydroxychloroquine at least as often.
The problem is not simply that Trump is incautious or doesn’t understand science or wants to put an optimistic spin on a grave situation. It’s that he’s repeatedly made it sound like the U.S. has its hands on a wonder drug that everyone ought to be taking. (On Saturday, he even told reporters he may take hydroxychloroquine himself while also making clear that he doesn’t intend to wear a nonsurgical face mask which is actually recommended for use in public settings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
In recent weeks, the prospect of taking the drug to treat or prevent coronavirus has left it in short supply for people who actually need it for proven therapies like treating lupus. But perhaps worse, the presidential endorsement may lull people into a false sense of security, an expectation that a “cure” is at hand so why bother with all the isolation.
Which us leads to the next no-no. For God’s sake, don’t congregate. In Baltimore, for example, it was discouraging to hear about young people gathering in crowds whether at a party in Federal Hill or outside a popular restaurant and bar in Canton. There may be several things going on here.
First, young people regard themselves as invincible. Second, they see themselves as invincible. And third, that invincible thing again. What they don’t seem to realize is that they are all potential carriers. Forget that they are themselves in danger, the prospect of passing it along before they even have symptoms is simply too great to be ignored. We don’t have the test kits to clearly define who has and who hasn’t become infected. Get it? We can’t engage in unnecessarily risky behavior.
If you do think something is wrong with you, be like Fagan Harris and Meryam Bouadjemi. For those who missed Sun reporter Kevin Rector’s account of the Baltimore couple and their harrowing ordeal with COVID-19 (“‘Just trying to breathe’: Baltimore couple describe fighting coronavirus at home, and why they fear for others,” April 6), please, please, please take a moment and read it. At every step, the 30-something couple made the right choices, self-quarantining, seeking medical help by phone and acting responsibly. But the best part? Now, that they are on the mend, their goal is to help others as they were assisted by people around them.
Be like Fagan and Meryam. That’s how you get through our contemporary Pearl Harbor — by being smart, courageous and looking out for your neighbors.
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