It took two years, but COVID finally swept through the Malaby house. Other than a positive test, my two-year-old showed no signs of having the virus, which seemed odd considering she’s exhibited symptoms of a cold since the day she was born. I had the shakes and a low-grade fever one night, and that was the extent of it.
We were fortunate, but statistically speaking a mild case has been, overwhelmingly, the most common outcome.
Per the Center for Disease Control, only 1-3% of all COVID cases require hospitalization, and that is inclusive of the entire population – vaccinated, unvaccinated, young and old. Obviously, those cases skew toward the older population and those with preexisting conditions. Again, according to the CDC, individuals 65 and under without preexisting conditions have a greater than 99.9% chance of recovery.
Two years into Fifteen Days to Slow the Spread, it is fair to ask: was a one-size-fits-all “solution” good policy? Was it a net positive for our government to shut down schools, businesses, and churches, to promote “social distancing,” to push mask and vaccine mandates, to print money in an effort to get folks to Stay Home; Save Lives?
Was it worth it?
In over two years, there have been about 900,000 deaths in America due to COVID. That’s a big number which gives our politicians an opportunity to say, “Think what would have happened had we not acted,” but that logic fails to identify any benefit of their lockdown strategy while completely ignoring the costs of their policies.
What of the spike in drug use? The number one cause of death among American adults ages 18-45 is now fentanyl overdoses, with over 100,000 deaths last year. For reference, in that same age cohort, fewer than half that number died due to COVID since the start of 2020.
What of the mental health crisis? As reported by the New York Times, there has been a 51% increase in ER visits for suicide attempts by adolescent girls in the US in early 2021 as compared to the same period in 2019.
What of the physical toll to adults? According to the American Psychological Association, 42% of adults gained undesired weight during the pandemic, with an average increase of 29 pounds. “Stay Home; Save Lives” promotes a sedentary lifestyle, and according to the CDC, “obesity may triple the risk of hospitalization due to a COVID-19 infection.”
What of the effect on children, and the billions of hours lost to in-person instruction? For the ones fortunate enough to be in school, many have had to wear masks all day; a recent study from the Speech and Learning Institute shows a 350% surge in childhood speech delays. We keep hearing “kids are resilient,” but that’s an implicit admission that these policies are detrimental to children.
What of the financial burden? According to the Chamber of Commerce, anywhere from ten to twenty percent of small businesses closed permanently during the pandemic, and over forty percent had to close at least temporarily. In an attempt to indemnify business owners and employees, the government printed reams of money, and as a result, inflation is currently around 7%. Every sixty days, our money loses 1% of its value. Stated another way, if an employee earns 26 paychecks a year, two of those have been wiped out by our federal printing press.
The past two-plus years have served as a hard lesson in unintended consequences. Here in New Hampshire, our federal delegation has done nothing to push back against perpetual lockdown, but perhaps that is to be expected; a failed policy provides a powerful incentive for politicians to continue said policy and to ignore or deny its consequences.
In the real world, adults have to assess risk. We live with the costs and benefits of our choices, unlike politicians, who tout all the wonderful benefits of their actions but turn a blind eye to the detrimental side effects.
Unfortunately, while there is already a laundry list of folks seeking to replace our current representatives, I do not hear any of the challengers beating this drum: perhaps the citizenry would be better off making their own choices than a government which refuses to acknowledge the costs of their actions.
As we ramp up into election season, there is sure to be debate over all the typical hot-button issues, but those topics pale in comparison to what Americans have experienced the last two years: a federal government assuming more and more control over the citizenry, externalizing the costs of their actions, and demonizing those who dissent.
There is one question worth asking all politicians that will identify immediately if they have seriously considered the effects of our COVID response or if they are just going with the flow:
Was it worth it?