Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Some Covid Mistakes

I think that a lot of mistakes have been made with this Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S.A. Now I am not trying to point fingers at anybody in particular, but rather at what seems to be a more general sort of problem.

At the beginning, basing everything on a theoretical model that turned out to be way off, was in retrospect, a mistake. However, remember that everyone was dealing with an unknown here so it’s hard to fault those decisions . . . in the beginning.

The problem that I see has absolutely nothing to do with politics, but rather  it has to do with the concept of generalization versus individualization.

Let’s take the U.S. first. The U.S. is a very big place, and obviously many of its different parts, although, still within the confines of its boundaries, some spots bear little resemblance to each other. Would anyone suggest that New York is the same as South Dakota is the same as Oklahoma? Obviously not . . . so as far as Covid, it makes no sense to treat the people who live in these states, the same. Should the rules for social distancing and the wearing of masks be the same in New York City as it is in Sioux Falls, South Dakota? No! But yet if the governor of X does things different than the governor of Y, the press is not hesitant to throw stones.

Next the same principle applies to every state. Does it make sense to have the same rules and diktats for those that live in Newark, as those who live down by Princeton? I say no. Likewise does it make sense for the governor of Illinois to extend the lockdown the same for those who live on the West side of Chicago and those who live downstate in Carbondale? No, again. Similarly L.A. County versus Placer County up near Lake Tahoe . . . No, no, a thousand times, “No!” So why are we doing it?

We can even continue this down the individual counties in California. In San Diego County, should the rules for social distancing and masks be the same in the neighborhood of Hillcrest in the city, with a high population density, and Julian, a small country town in the mountains. With the risk of being redundant and repetitive . . . No!

Has Covid-29 effected the judgement-making capabilities of those in charge? Whiplash!

109 Replies to “Some Covid Mistakes”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.