There’s no doubt that the hyperpoliticization of the coronavirus is due mostly to liberals who decided the best course of action amid a pandemic was to turn themselves into insufferable moral police and shame anyone who set foot outside or forgot to wear a mask while taking a shower.
A healthy portion of people — I’m sure you know a few — saw that behavior and said something like, “Chill out. I’m a healthy, low-risk person who would like to resume my life with the proper precautions.”
Even then, the shaming continues.
TV doctor Sanjay Gupta, to his credit, has not been as hysterical as his colleagues at CNN, but he lapsed on Tuesday during a conversation with the government’s infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“I always tell people, young or old, you don’t want this disease,” said Gupta. “Because sometimes there is this perception, ‘I’ll just get it, I’ll get through it, and I’ll be good to go. Especially if I’m a young person.’ You don’t want this disease. You know, you heard even the president saying it’s just elderly people with heart diseases that get this. By the way, my father, who’s probably watching right now, is in his late 70s and has heart disease. And it always hurts me when people say, well, just the elderly with heart disease get this. I find it disrespectful, frankly.”
It would certainly be disrespectful to suggest that any human life, no matter how older or sick, is expendable. But I’m confident that anyone stating the truth that the elderly with underlying health issues are at unique risk of succumbing to the virus aren’t making that point.
What they’re saying is what we all should have reconciled with long ago — that the vast majority of us can assess our individual risk, weighed against our health and age, and resume more normal activity. Those who the data say are at greater risk of serious complications from the virus, however, will have to make a different calculation, and we can collectively do our best to keep them safe.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it outright. “As you get older, your risk for severe illness from COVID-19 increases,” according to the CDC’s website. “For example, people in their 50s are at higher risk for severe illness than people in their 40s. Similarly, people in their 60s or 70s are, in general, at higher risk for severe illness than people in their 50s. The greatest risk for severe illness from COVID-19 is among those aged 85 or older.”
It further states that “by understanding the factors that put you at an increased risk, you can make decisions about what kind of precautions to take in your daily life.”
Whether Gupta’s dad is 55 years old and has a heart of steel or is in his late 70s with half of it missing, it’s not disrespectful to acknowledge facts that should be moving us more and more people toward normal life. And, yes, normal life remains an option, no matter how many times Democrats or anyone in the national media denies it.
