The Price of Freedom

What a difference three weeks has made.  Back on March 9th, the United States had less than 750 documented cases of COVID-19, and only about 25 people had perished.  There were still people down-playing the severity of the pandemic, still people vacationing on beaches up and down the east coast (not sure about the west coast), still people attending sports and entertainment events, still people eating out at local restaurants and bars. 

Fast forward to today, and America leads the world in confirmed coronavirus cases, and will so, for the foreseeable future as we are adding more than double the number of cases of any other country each day. Most likely we will have over 160,000 cases by today's end, as compared to that 750 number just 21 days ago.  Fortunately, we are not seeing the horrendous death rate of Italy or Spain, but we will certainly surpass China in aggregate deaths in the next 2 days, most likely hitting the 3000 dead mark today compared to the 25 we had 21 days ago.  Just for reference sake, Italy and Spain will certainly achieve the dubious distinction of a death rate equivalent to 1 out of every 5000 people while China is holding at 1 out of every 500,000.  (American will be at the 1 out of every 100,000 mark, today or tomorrow).

Again, I am using the info from the link below, which updates regularly.  (There is a last time updated notation at the top of the page)

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

First, let's recognize that there is a certain amount of skepticism that we should maintain when we examine results from countries that are generally closed to the free dissemination of news.  North Korea is not included on the list.  They, in fact, may have a far less occurrence of this pandemic because no one is flocking to that country.  And, whatever presence the disease may have, their authoritarian government would be reticent to reveal the details.  Russia is also fairing well in this outbreak, although, again, not a popular tourist destination, and not a land where independent reporting flourishes.  Even China's numbers should be considered with some doubt of their veracity.

There is certainly blame to go around as to why America is suffering more cases than all other nations (and remember, our testing still lags behind, so it is easy to imagine that we might already have had 250,000 cases so far).  We had our first case relatively early, in January, yet, as I indicated above, were still living our lives without constraint, almost 2 months later.  Perhaps, had China been more forthcoming about the virus, we might have acted more quickly, but given that we lost many weeks between first case and widespread "slow the spread" guidelines, that is wishful thinking, at best, a diversion of blame at worst.  The problem with the CDC's first attempt at testing also created a delay, as well as FDA rules that limit how and when independent, private sector development of testing kits and disease study can take place.  And, of course, the perception that the danger was more from speculative and sensational news coverage than from the actual virus itself.  "It will miraculously disappear by April" may also have contributed to the general nonchalance approach that marked the beginning of reporting of COVID-19.

But, blame aside, I think that we cannot ignore the simple fact that our singular sense of individualism and freedom in America, makes it much harder to attack a virus of this nature in a preemptive fashion, as compared to a society where personal liberties are more easily relinquished.  It is the price we may sometimes pay for our freedom.  Even today, as the trends for more cases and deaths continue to rise exponentially, there are calls to sacrifice a portion of the population rather than create an economic meltdown as such an economic collapse will surely bring its own set of misery and suffering. 

The simple fact is that if we, as a country, are not willing to allow our temperatures to be taken before we enter a public establishment, or even our place of employment, are not willing to be tested before
handling food we will be serving to others, caring for the sick, stocking shelves at a local grocer, or any of the myriad other contacts that occur in the service and retail industries, are not even willing to figure out a way for our elected officials to vote remotely so they don't spread the virus among those we need to make the most difficult decisions concerning this crisis, then we must own the fact that a certain amount of suffering and death are acceptable. 

There was recently a quote from the Governor of Mississippi who said that he not only did not want to issue a statewide closure of non-essential businesses, but that his power as governor meant that cities and towns in his state were not allowed to do so either.  This was just a few days ago.  Upon announcing this decision, he said that his state was not China and never would be.  I imagine he was referring to the fact that the entire area of WuHan was quarantined, no one in or out, to help contain the virus, and that an attempt was made to track down, isolate and trace the contacts of anyone who had visited that area.  In other words, an almost complete suspension of freedom.   Live Free or Die, as they say in New Hampshire. 

It will be easy to make a judgement on how we did when this is all over.  There will be those who will claim it was all overblown and others of who will wish we had acted sooner.  There will even be some who will try to create a perception of winners and losers, especially those in politics, even in the face of the loss of tens of thousands of lives and trillions of economic dollars.  Perhaps that too, is the price of freedom. The belief that any individual or group should, or could, or would somehow be a winner in the face of a national disaster. 

I would like to suggest that great freedom requires more social responsibility, not less.  The highest form of freedom is that which is sacrificed for the good of the community, whether that sacrifice occurs on the battlefield during wartime, or in the hospitals fighting a pandemic, or in the streets when we allow a nasal swab to reduce the spread of a disease.  Do we have the freedom to do nothing while a woman is raped in front of us?  To ignore a woman who is beating her child over the head?  To go into a hospital or nursing home even when we know we are contagious?  Is that the essence of true freedom, or true selfishness?  And, does pure individual freedom, where everyone can do as she pleases, create a totally free country, or anarchy?

Tough questions during a tough time, but perhaps now is the best time to address them, while we are battling this crisis.