Some Lessons I Hope We Are Learning

I was in deep discussion on this issue with some friends this week. I wanted to share our thoughts on some lessons I hope we are learning through this COVID-19 pandemic:

1. The working class carry this economy - not the wealthy nor the executives. Look who is making and delivering food and caring for our sick. It's the working class. You'll be hard pressed to find an executive on the front line in a mask and gloves triaging sick or delivering food. Small Businesses make up our Nation's workforce - but we are learning that very few of them received a PPP loan - big businesses got the funding.

2. We are globally connected - whether we like it or not. Most of our medications and general consumer goods come from China. While there will be certainly those who want that to change - it will take time (it took years to get here). So let's stop the rhetoric about "them" vs. "us" - there is only a global "we" - and we are all in this together. Neighbor helping neighbor has been our strength - and it has had nothing to do with their political views.

3. Healthcare should be a basic human right - Over 2 million Americans have lost their healthcare coverage and now nearly 20 million are unemployed. No other first-world country has allowed that to happen. How does one manage an illness during a Pandemic without some basic right to healthcare. We must fix this.

4. Our government has failed us - by unravelling all the social support infrastructure over the past 3 years. We actually need public health departments and pandemic response teams. We need public hospitals with enough capacity to deal with emergencies. We need our scientists - even if the truth they tell us is unpopular or something we don't want to hear. We need federally-funded, widespread testing like the rest of the world has done. We need a thoughtful plan for reopening that looks a lot like Germany's new plan. Additionally, our leaders failing the respond to early warnings - and believing this pandemic wasn't a worry or fake news set us on a course to be the most profoundly devastated country - and that should not have been the case. We SHOULD have been the most prepared. Let's be honest, we weren't prepared - not even close.

5. Finally, we have exposed ourselves as a nation - to any enemy looking to do us harm - we are deeply vulnerable to biological warfare. We have no social-safety net, no real healthcare infrastructure for widespread testing and virus containment, no public health system to mobilize. Even our leaders refrain from simply speaking the truth because it's not "politically correct." I suspect our enemies are making notes and learning much about our failure to respond.

All this can be addressed - and must be addressed. The only long-term failure is blaming others and failing to act. We are a great Nation. We have the resources, skill and knowledge. We need leaders who care more about the common good than their individual stock portfolio. And we need those leaders to take action. Now.