Medicine Is A Science – Politics Is An Art

Before anything else, my disclaimers:

1) I’m not an epidemiologist, psychologist, psychiatrist and/or any other type of medical doctor. I don’t even play one on television. That being said, please save your hate mail stating that I’m claiming to be any type of medical professional. Please do continue to send the hate, just make sure to channel your anger towards me in the correct way.

2) My political affiliation and/or beliefs have absolutely nothing to do with my stance on the words I’m getting ready to type. My opinions are formulated based on an objective view of the facts and my perception of what I believe is accurate. The person I vote for to be our president has absolutely no relevance to the topic I’m going to be discussing.

So glad I got that off my chest. Now to my point and how I believe our approach to this pandemic has been all wrong.

From day one, we’ve been addressing the COVID-19 pandemic from a single variable analysis – preventing the community spread of disease by going into shutdown mode. While protecting our physical health was/is obviously an important issue, it can’t be the ONLY issue we’re addressing.

I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve heard this concept.

I don’t think there’s anyone that would disagree with the fact that we need to get our nation back to work. The problem I believe, is we’re viewing the return to “normalcy” based on an “either/or” decision.

We either remain in shutdown mode and totally disregard the economy, or we open the economy back up and totally disregard our health.

This is simply not accurate and the plan to move forward doesn’t only consist of binary options.

Contrary to the current mindset, there is a way to protect our health while also allowing our nation to get back to work.

First off, we need to understand that there needs to be a balancing of risk/reward in any decision we make. If you ask most health professionals, they’ll say keep social distancing; if you ask most politicians, they’ll say open up the economy.

Who is right and who is wrong?

The answer is they’re both right.

There’s a way to meet in the middle and it starts with acknowledging the fact that our mental health is equally as important as our physical health.

While our medical professionals’ answers are based in science, our political leader’s solutions are more like an art. The trick is to find a way to blend the two. It’s time to start placing some responsibility on our fellow American’s to do the right thing.

Let’s all analyze the facts, make informed decisions based on the data that’s available, and proceed in what we feel is the safest way possible for our individual scenario. Just because a governor says businesses can re-open doesn’t mean you have to run out to get a tattoo or a manicure. Continue to stay inside if you like.  

And lastly, don’t try to shame the people that aren’t adhering to your definition of “social distancing.” Save your FaceBook posts for the more exciting stuff; like letting everyone know how amazing your life is.