Hattip to my sistren at the bar, and commenter, Kathleen Casey. Dr. Jeff Mirus at Catholic Culture speaks for me. He will speak for a lot more of us before this idiocy on stilts has run its course:
Economies are being destroyed around the world, including in the United States. This is happening not because of the devastation of the Coronavirus but because of the governmental fear that the virus might be devastating if extreme anti-plague measures are not adopted. As the prevention measures become more and more stringent, most of the public assumes they are more and more necessary—that COVID-19 must really be a very serious threat. After all, even if it isn’t so bad right now, it might mutate into something worse.
And so huge numbers of people around the world are faced with economic ruin.
Almost anyone who looks at the hard data realizes, to put it in terms used this week by two very intelligent, well-informed, and seriously Catholic personal friends, that “the body count just doesn’t add up.” A relatively small number (as epidemics go) have caught the virus, and an extraordinarily small number of people have had severe symptoms from the virus. Moreover, even those very few who have died of it have almost universally been not only elderly but already seriously weakened by some other condition.
The problem with the response to the Coronavirus, therefore, is that it is architected essentially from a desire to avoid future possibilities which we do not know will arise. Under such circumstances, well-informed people who are not afraid of being counter-cultural are beginning to combine publicly-available statistics with the non-statistical reality that they know nobody who knows anybody who has the virus. And so they begin to wonder. To put it bluntly, they wonder if the prevention is worse than the disease.
Count me as wondering. I am not saying that the extreme measures that have been mandated, including the Church’s cooperation with these measures, are clearly unjustified. The great problem here is that we are betting on futures, and we simply do not know what the result would be if we do not assume the worst. This in itself is a significant problem—even if it is one that we cannot avoid—and it raises important questions for the exercise of prudential judgment.
Go here to read the rest. Preach it brother.
The Wuhan Flu really isn’t the problem. The unlimited power we surrendered to a bunch of morons is the problem.
President Trump needs to set a date certain for the return to sanity or it’s all lover.
20 March 2020 , WSJ editorial, “Financial markets paused their slide Thursday, but no one should think this rolling economic calamity is over. If this government-ordered shutdown continues for much more than another week or two, the human cost of job losses and bankruptcies will exceed what most Americans imagine. This won’t be popular to read in some quarters, but federal and state officials need to start adjusting their anti-virus strategy now to avoid an economic recession that will dwarf the harm from 2008-2009.”
Well, we don’t know anybody who knows anybody who KNOWS they’ve had it.
Between that 50% no symptoms thing, over 80% having no way to tell it from a normal cold, and the bad cases that look like the flu but with a negative flu swab apparently spiking weeks ago, it’s looking like we’ve burnt down the barn after the horses got out.
I was potentially exposed at our sports club by someone with a confirmed case of Covid-19, but the CDC said we were at “low risk.” I do not know who he is, however. According to the press, he has made a complete recovery and is out of quaratine. This all happened in a 10 day time frame.
There will be a recession. As Noah said: “God has taken the world by its corners and shaken it.” from The Bible film.
My neighbor is an EMS worker picking up sick people. My friend gives our Holy Communion at the hospital. He was exposed,.He had to suit up and is now under the watchful eye of the CDC and the diocese.
Just to be fair, Peter Grant has another perspective on the matter.
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2020/03/for-all-coronavirus-doubting-thomases.html
I’m still agnostic myself but am betting this will be a footnote by my birthday. (Middle of summer)
The economic impact will be massive if the panic continues much longer. Sadly, we are a consumer economy. Sure online shopping and drive through services are still available, but you only need a quarter or less of your normal staff.
The Wuhan virus might be a footnote by summer, but the economic impact won’t be. And when the voters go looking for someone to blame, theoretical lives saved won’t seem as important as actual lost earnings, lost wealth, lost jobs etc.
Whatever happens to the economy, I think the churches will be the ones hurt the longest. After all, since I can remember I’ve heard people say they don’t need churches to be close to God. Well, our churches and church leaders just told them they’re right.
You ever feel like the Great Winnowing has begun Dave?
Ernst, I dunno. I think it reveals something about where we’ve come to as a religion. We’ve allowed churches to be relegated to the same level as bars, bowling alleys and barber shops: close down for the important thing of keeping everyone safe from this disease – and just keep close to God on your own. I think it’s a bad witness, and I feel it reveals more about where we’ve come to than we might care to admit.
You and I are on the same page Dave.
Re. economy, how many retirees are going to have to try to find jobs with their 401ks devastated?
“To put it on the most concrete level imaginable, suppose you could end abortion by agreeing to the complete cessation of the celebration of Mass” Deals with devil are never honest or true.
Apparently the KY governor is now forcing churches to close.
I know the justifications-heard a few of them now-but just something about the idea of the government ordering churches closed doesn’t sit right with me.
Makes me wonder what a tyrant can get away with declaring it for our own good.
The real virus is mental. It has affected the minds of our leaders. They are trading a potential problem for a present solution that will end up killing more folks body, mind and spirit.
Closing down the economy for a relatively few deaths is madness. Trump should say this and tell everyone to get back to work. Whatever deaths actually occur because of CV-19 must be taken as collateral damage.