The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
By its very nature, epidemiology is a very cautious science, and with good reason. It is always on the lookout for and is confronted by newly discovered lethal communicable diseases, and it seeks to thwart them as soon as possible. Since mid-2019, the world has been under attack by COVID-19, a coronavirus that, without contemporary advances in epidemiology, might easily have been as deadly as the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19.
Because of the failure of leadership of its former president, and the deliberate ignorance of millions of his followers, the USA has had by far the highest incidence of infections and deaths from COVID-19 of all the world’s nations. Both in numbers and in percentages, we have had the highest levels of hospitalizations and deaths due to the virus of any country on earth.
For the first time in more than a year, it now looks as though the U.S. is turning the corner in the battle against our epidemiological enemy. President Biden has just announced that everyone who agrees to be vaccinated can be vaccinated by the end of May. This is far sooner than practically every expert had been forecasting.
Thus we are confronted by a major social dilemma. For the sake of caution, should we continue to wear masks and socially distance ourselves well after the mass vaccinations have been completed, or should we soon terminate the cautionary measures we have been following for more than a year? Which is more harmful to American society: continued caution or sociological liberation?
Without question, too many American government officials here and there have incautiously lifted restrictions on their citizens. That has contributed to our exorbitantly high pandemic statistics. To give the all-clear signal too soon is a mistake.
If I were an epidemiologist, I would say masks and social distance must persist for many months to come. However, I am not a public health scientist. I am the pastor of a small Christian congregation. I have become greatly concerned about the potentially disastrous long-term ill-effects of the pandemic for every institution in organized religion throughout the world. Much more than that, though, I fear that the longer the world is forced to remain stopped in its tracks because of the virus, the greater will be the damage to all social institutions of every kind.
It is well documented that already there have been trillions of dollars of business losses economically because of COVID-19. The same is true for non-profit organizations throughout the world. Virtually every institution of any sort is hurting. The longer this goes on, the more they will be hurt. The numbers of lives lost and the number of people permanently affected by the plague shall have adverse results for decades or even generations to come, even if no one else is afflicted, which of course will not be the case.
If various levels of government and nations end the COVID restrictions, will there be more illness and death than there would be if the restrictions were maintained for a longer time? The answer is certainly yes. If the restrictions are not lifted soon, will the sociological, psychological, and spiritual ramifications be worse? Again, without doubt the answer is yes.
The epidemiologists and other scientists have performed a magnificent service to the world by their continuous cautious advice. This plague would have taken far more lives without their stellar service, and for them we are all thankful and indebted.
Now it behooves scientists and other leaders to try to determine how and when is the best time to declare COVID-19 defeated, and to allow the world to get on with its life. Courage, trust, and hope may demand that we must now throw caution to the winds and begin to pick up the pieces of billions of lives which have been forever altered by a disease over which the world has finally taken as much control as is wise under current circumstances. - March 3, 2021
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.