While talking with a friend a few days ago about the coronavirus and some of the reactions to it, he blurted out “the world has gone stupid.” Stupid? That's a strong word. Merriam-Webster defines stupid as “slow of mind” and “given to unintelligent decisions or acts.”
While the final gravity of COVID-19 – the coronavirus that was first detected in Wuhan City, China – is yet to be determined, it seems that some of the reporting of and reaction to the virus may be unintelligent. This virus, like any virus that carries the potency to create fatalities, is not to be taken lightly. However, in our chase to be cautious we shouldn’t create unnecessary alarm, which, in my opinion, has happened. With every report of a coronavirus case being highlighted by the national media, COVID-19 has become more than a threat to our bodies; it is perhaps now inducing more emotional distress than any physical harm it could ever cause to Americans.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the first infections of COVID-19 were linked to a live animal market in China and then contaminated humans. Once the national media in our country discovered the novel virus, it quickly became America’s leading news headline.
The national media has been careful to not let some of the facts get in the way of their narrative. Consider these facts: the CDC estimates that so far this season there have been at least 36 million flu illnesses, 370,000 hospitalizations and 22,000 deaths from flu in the U.S. That data is from their weekly report last week. That’s a staggering number of deaths attributed to the flu . . . far more than the 61 total U.S. deaths connected to COVID-19 as of March 15. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. was just over 3,200 on that date.
Those numbers reveal a much different story than the one being propagated by the national media. If the giant news organizations are going to “headline disease” every evening on their broadcasts, then it seems that the lead story should be about the flu. Now, if there is something that national healthcare officials are not telling us about this new outbreak, and COVID-19 is about to explode into something we haven’t imagined, then that’s a different storyline. But based on the facts the public has today, the national media presentation resembles coordinated fear-mongering.
The fear approach has raised national anxiety far above what the numbers suggest should be normal, which in turn has pushed many organizations to alter plans for any event that might attract a crowd.
Canceling or postponing events for the short term could be a good idea, but some organizations have slammed the panic pedal fully to the floor, like the NCAA, for example. The NCAA, which is the governing body of college athletics, canceled all spring sports on March 12, including the men’s and women’s Division 1 basketball tournaments, which is known as March Madness. That decision has huge revenue ramifications for businesses and universities and could create eligibility issues for players, especially seniors. Postponing March Madness for a few weeks in order to give healthcare officials more time to monitor COVID-19 is reasonable – abruptly canceling the entire season seems ill-advised.
But it doesn’t stop there. The NCAA’s decision to cancel all spring sports included the baseball College World Series, an event held in mid-June. It would be interesting to know what data was considered that prompted someone to cancel an event scheduled for the summer. Is the data that drove that decision not being shared with the public, or did someone let peer or political pressure outweigh the known facts? Or maybe, as we defined in the first paragraph of this column, it was just an unintelligent act.
We have to act responsibly and practice the guidelines outlined by our healthcare officials. Washing our hands, covering our coughs and social distancing are recommendations we should follow as the medical professionals sort out this new strain of coronavirus, which is spread primarily through coughing or sneezing.
Here’s something else that should be practiced – common sense. Leaders holding decision-making power, both in public and private institutions, should exercise a healthy measure of common sense and make their decisions based on facts, not fear, in order to mitigate unfounded public panic.
