Tag: Reopen Maryland

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Government Gods

April 28, 2020

By Sue Seboda

Open Letter to Governor Hogan

The purpose of this letter is to outline questions and comments regarding the press conference Friday 4/24/20.  Assertions that small business has been a top priority are called into question by your actions.  If equal weight had been placed on the physical, mental and economic health of all of the citizens, a balanced approach would have been pursued.  Evidence of such an approach would have been the creation of a task force on day 1 that represented the viewpoints of not only epidemiologists and the medical community but also business, banking and mental health.  Instead a lopsided, reactionary strategy based on faulty “science” was implemented leaving immeasurable human and financial destruction in its wake.  

This single focused strategy also gave rise to government gods recklessly choosing who lives and dies, who gets a paycheck and who doesn’t. Home Depot is safe but hundreds of other businesses that could manage 6’ spacing are unsafe?  A hair salon can provide services to an essential person with papers but no one else?  Are essential people and businesses somehow immune from covid-19?  Why are all state employees still receiving paychecks when the state’s income has been decimated?  

Missing from the press conference was any discussion of real data. I presume the team is familiar with the studies emerging that suggest infection is far more widespread resulting in a death rate under 1%?  Or does the team focus more on the attacks leveled at these studies instead of the possibilities they suggest?  Has an attempt been made to estimate the actual death rate considering asymptomatic case rates may be 50% or greater?  Let’s assume the death rate is around 0.6% as some suggest.  Would you have supported a complete destruction of demand if we knew this on March 1?  Doubtful. 

But what is done is done.  How do we move forward and protect the vulnerable from the very infectious covid-19 and the rest of us from the government gods?  I am very happy to hear that business minds have now been added to the team because I fear that if it were left to the medical professionals, stay at home orders would be in place until a vaccine was available.  Can commonsense steps be taken to open many businesses now?  Yes. 

A simple approach would focus on the existing demographic data for deaths and ICU admissions.  As of today there are 929 total deaths in Maryland and 551 patients in ICU.  (For perspective please note that that 50,668 Marylanders died in 2018 from all causes.)  In the press conference we learned a high percentage of these numbers represent nursing home patients.  While these lives are as valuable as any other life, people in nursing homes are not the ones shopping and operating businesses.  What about the workforce?  How many of the deaths were people under 65 without underlying health conditions?  Using percentages from various studies this number is probably between 17 and 42 people out of a population of 6,043,000.  

This data suggests government should stop playing god and immediately allow any business to reopen that can adjust to physical distance guidelines.  Protect the vulnerable and allow everyone else to go back to work.  Each individual chooses.  Anyone uncomfortable leaving the house can remain there.  Open public spaces with physical distance guidelines. Phase in the remaining businesses and events as soon as possible based on real data.  Would infections spike?  Probably.  But once again, what is the hospitalization rate for those under 65 without underlying conditions?  Balance this threat against the devastating impact of staying closed another two weeks.   

Every day matters. Each minute we remain closed, the consequences will pile up exponentially.  All lives matter.  Waiting is disaster.  It is absurd to rely on continued federal bailouts.  It’s time to save ourselves both from the virus and the government’s reaction to it. If we start the process now, we will be one day closer to the oft discussed herd immunity and one day further from toxic herd fear.  

During the press conference, the lack of any attempt to dispel fear was disturbing.  Some would suggest that a healthy level of fear aids the government gods in their ability to control people.   How do I know fear levels are sky high and people’s brains paralyzed?   Simply observe how many people wear a mask when engaged in solitary activities.  The fear will subside, however, as the damage mounts.  There will be serious questions.  Even now folks wonder why you listen to federal guidelines when they don’t make sense.  And if commonsense is absent from Maryland’s strategy, it won’t be long before we wonder why we should listen to you.   

Sincerely,

Sue Seboda

Annapolis, MD 

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