Quarantine the at risk population and allow the rest of us to "play ball"

When I worked in the public school system there were concerns about kids with peanut allergies.  The administration over reaction to that was to try to ban all peanut products from the lunchroom.  I asked, “why not just have a section in the cafeteria for people with peanut allergies?”  No good answers to that.  

The thing was that it was nearly impossible for the average parent to screen everything for peanuts and peanut by products like peanut oil etc.  No.  I don’t know what the “etc” would be.  I ran out of ideas at oil, but I know that there has be other things.  So I think the solution was for parents of kids with peanut allergies to take care of their own. Oh the humanity!  Personal responsibility!  How unfair!

So here’s the thing, the people most at risk from dying of Covid-19 are people 65 and over with underlying health issues.  So instead of quarantining all of America, why don’t we just quarantine the people most at risk?

The Fox News guy on “The Next Revolution,” Steve Hilton, came up with idea after CA Gov Gavin Newsome recommended that the at risk population in CA self-quarantine until the danger passes.       

Today’s JG rant
Abe Schwab is the perfect example of the demise of the American male.  The species that tamed the American west, fought and won two world wars and, less than two generations ago, landed a man on the moon has been reduced to relying on the federal government to tell him how many rolls of toilet paper he needs to keep in the bathroom and how many frozen pizzas to put in the freezer.  Pathetic.

The CDC developed a Covid-19 test in one week.  The delivery of the test is the problem.  The CDC was never set up for nation-wide testing.  Enter the private sector and as a result we appear to have turned the corner on testing.

Professor Schwab has clearly missed his calling.  Instead of heading up a small philosophy department at small university in a small city and acting as an expert for a small local newspaper, he should be using his considerable talents as soothsayer to predict the location of next big outbreak.  Instead of standing outside the arena and pointing out where the strong man stumbled, he should enter what he supposes is a rather simple arena of limiting and curing pandemics.    

Here’s a news flash.  The world is out to kill you.  In the end, it wins every single time. Covid-19 is not the first epidemic to strike the US, and it will not be last.   Plagues are a recurring bane to human existence since the beginning of the history of man. 

Here’s another.  Government cannot stop a virus.  The flu comes every single year.  Why don’t governments attack the real problem and cure the damn flu.

My guess is that Prof. Schwab’s objections are not so much connected with the government’s response to Covid-19 as they are with the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Covid-19 is a serious, serious problem.  Maybe we should be considering quarantining the most vulnerable – people over the age of 65 with underlying health concerns.     

Sunday, March 15, 2020 1:00 am

Misinformation from the top is putting additional lives at risk

Abe Schwab

Like many people, I go back and forth between thinking that I'm overreacting and underreacting to the threat of COVID-19.

I don't know whether I've purchased too many non-perishable goods or not enough. I don't know if I've stocked my freezer too full or if I haven't stocked it full enough. And the reason I go back and forth is because of the conflicting and incoherent information coming from the federal government.

On one hand, the Indiana Department of Public Health, as of this writing, reports there are only 12 cases in the entire state of Indiana. And that number has not increased in the past 36 hours. President Donald Trump has variously said COVID-19 is “contained” and that whoever believes they need to be tested can.

On the other hand, only 64 Indiana patients have been tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Indiana State Department of Health since this crisis began. For context, 58 players in the NBA were tested on March 11. Additionally, the Ohio Department of Health has estimated that it thinks 100,000 Ohio residents are infected. And I'm pretty sure diseases are indifferent to state lines.

On March 10, the CDC reported it had tested zero people and state Departments of Health had tested only eight people nationwide. Vice President Mike Pence claimed this information didn't tell the whole story and that some other reporting mechanism would be forthcoming.

As Pence acknowledges, our federal government should provide leadership organizing the efforts of all involved in addressing and planning for this infectious disease outbreak. In the United States, as great as we may be, our leadership has failed to fulfill this fundamental responsibility. Worse, rather than admit their failure, the president and vice president have pretended they are not failing and everything is fine.

And that's why I go back and forth about COVID-19. I both lack the information to make a good judgment about how to respond and I'm told that I have all the information I need. I know there are more than 12 cases in Indiana, but I'm told all the people who need to be tested are being tested.

The failure of the CDC to fulfill its responsibility to provide basic diagnostic testing required to ensure informed decisions about public health in the face of a predictable pandemic has put millions at risk. This failure is compounded by the obfuscations, misinformation and inaccuracies propagated by the president and vice president.

This makes me feel particularly bad for the superintendents, the mayors and the governors. Not only do they have to deal with the lack of information, which they desperately need, but they are also told that everything is fine and going according to plan. If I screw up my choices about non-perishable goods, it will affect me and my immediate family. The choices of superintendents, mayors, and governors will affect thousands.

Look at it this way: If everything were going as well as the president and vice president say it is, Gov. Eric Holcomb would have had no reason to limit public gatherings across the state as he did on Thursday. To make his decision, and for mayors and superintendents to make their decisions, they have to ignore all the president's statements and claims about COVID-19. As far as these decisions are concerned, it would be just as good, if not better, if the president didn't say anything at all.

Abe Schwab is professor of philosophy and director of graduate studies at Purdue Fort Wayne.