After hearing what the doctors had to say about the effects of COVID-19 on the public and the actions that were taken, both good and bad, it is evident that there was some misinformation spread in regards to the proper restrictions and guidelines relayed to the public by so-called experts. It was encouraging to hear from Dr. Makary especially, and Dr. Gottlieb, that they were incorrect in their initial response to the virus and did not always take the proper course of action in terms of informing the public in the right way. In a lot of instances there was more fear instilled in people than actual information. Specifically in regards to staying home and cutting people off from their friends and loved ones for extended periods of time with no real explanation as to why when the experts themselves did not even know the extent to which the virus could be spread. Never in human history have we experienced such mass hysteria over a disease for such a long period of time and still going on. The doctors did try to make their case as to why they did what they did initially to save face but I was impressed with the extent to which they acknowledged, especially Dr. Makary, their initial wrong impressions and advice to government officials. Dr. Makary was particularly affected by the effect on our young generation of school-age children who were affected by the shutdowns and school closures. He gave some very disheartening statistics regarding suicide and depression among young people that should not have been affecting them to such an extent.
I believe that a lot of these fear tactics and atomization consequences are similar to those we have discussed in class. Not to say they were not warranted in the beginning, however, course of action should have evolved as more data came out saying those who are young and healthy have almost zero chance of dying from COVID; there was none of that. The fear was simply perpetuated to such an extent that it consumed people’s lives and livelihoods. I’m sure a similar phenomenon occurred during the Soviet era as well.
I found the talk very interesting and thought-provoking in regards to our class discussions.