As a child of the ‘70s, I enjoyed wild freedoms, including roaming around by myself at a very young age. I would load my red Radio Flyer wagon with stuffed animals, books, a tea set and blankie to head down to the mossy banks of a brook behind our neighbor’s back garden. No one could find me tucked away in my hidden oasis, but I could hear my mother calling me when the time came to go home.
And now, we all need respite from COVID-19. If we avoid it, perhaps we can mitigate the spread. For example, right now, instead of going to the Houston Rodeo tonight, I am looking forward to curling up with a book. Is that bad for the economy if we all curtail outings? Sure, but the alternative of an overloaded healthcare system and widespread illness is something we want to avoid or alleviate.
The current warning from VP Pence, as I type, is that the threat to the “average American” is low while the elderly are the most vulnerable. Well, a lot of us have immune systems that are somehow compromised. Ever hear those TV ads that say “such-and-such can inhibit your ability to fight infections”? Yep, that’s me. I had two sinus infections the past few months and I do not want to risk getting this novel coronavirus. (Good for the surgeon general for including immunocompromised people in his list of people at risk.)
So, Mr. B. and I loaded up on pantry supplies last weekend. Plus, we have a freezer full of venison, thanks to our successful deer hunt in January in Laredo. Now, I plan to make veggie stews with beans and frozen vegetables and then add ground venison as we go. I also have lots of pastas and rice to combine with the venison. Would I rather go out to dinner? Sure! But, maybe hunkering down for a while will be a good thing.
Maybe I will set a goal of reading two books per week. Maybe I will create a whole bunch of new venison recipes!
Seriously, we need to try to get in front of this disease outbreak. At this writing, Italy has shut down everything. It’s a smaller county and the spread there happened quickly. It seems as if there could be more coordination and maybe more conservative measures taken here. For the moment, local governments, universities and private companies are deciding what do to for their citizens, communities and employees on a voluntary basis. I am not advocating for the imposition of martial law, but there could be a happy medium between that and gently suggesting local governments do what they think they need to do. Even proponents of smaller government recognize the benefit of a some basic federal government functions, such as national security and say, coordinating the management of a pandemic.
The time for soft-pedaling is long past. The problem is inevitable. It’s already here. What leaders can do is mitigate and educate. (For perspective, a microbiologist in this blog contrasts COVID-19 with far worse diseases we’ve contended with, historically.)
A leader should be forthright and manage people’s expectations. Shoot, a really good politician would figure out a way to come off like a hero in a crisis by really doing good work. There is an old adage about there are some people who merely aspire to be versus people who aspire to do. Which style do you prefer?
For a leader, the question is what are you going to do about it? The answer should not be easy in the face of a challenge. The mayor of Austin explained to Texas Monthly his tough call about cancelling the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival, which is usually a huge economic driver. And, while the illness is likely coming anyway to Austin, there may have been a temptation to carry on as business as usual. But, this local leader realized the objective is to manage, not worsen, a public health crisis. It’s always about managing problems not exacerbating them. If we collectively make the right calls and cooperate, we can ideally minimize the effects.
For me, tonight, that means curling up in my favorite chair with a good book and a glass of wine as the grown-up version of hanging out on the banks of the brook with my red wagon supplies.
The Sage Leopard, thesageleopard@gmail.com
