The primary goal during a pandemic is ensuring our healthcare system does not crash — and in that arena, President Trump and the respective governors can declare victory.
Yes, yes, all the usual caveats apply. There could be a coronavirus second wave. A story might drop today about some poor soul who died in an emergency waiting room, and we will know if that happens because it will be the biggest story in the country for days on end.
But as of right now, there have been no stories about people dying due to a lack of proper medical care caused by an overwhelmed system.
And there have been no stories of people dying due to a lack of ventilators.
Sure, there have been plenty of stories about our healthcare industry being inundated, busy, and stressed… But it did not break, and that’s a big victory, the only victory that matters.
Sure, the media continue to nitpick and peacock using 20/20 hindsight and to move the goalposts of what success means as a means to ignore this success, but here’s the thing…
Listen to the language coming from the experts…
“Bend the curve.”
“Slow the spread.”
When there’s no vaccine, when there’s no cure, that’s all you can do. You can’t “stop the spread,” you can only “slow the spread.” You can’t “break the curve,” you can only “bend the curve.”
Unfortunately, unless someone is willing to quarantine during the entire 12 to 18 months we’re told it will take to find a cure, perhaps the vast majority of people will eventually be exposed to the Chinese virus. How sick we’ll get (or not) depends on the individual and all kinds of factors like age, co-morbities, etc., but we’re still going to be exposed and infected. This is why “slowing the spread” is the primary goal in such a terrible situation. And the only one that matters. Why?
Because we don’t want the cause of anyone’s death to be a lack of the medical care that would have otherwise saved their life.
We saved everyone’s life who could be saved, and that’s a huge victory, not only for the federal and local governments, but for the healthcare workers on the front line.
Despite all the government scrambling, all the fake media stories, all the predictions of doom, all the cynicism, and every ongoing attempt to make you believe different… No one died in a triage situation because there were not enough beds and equipment and personnel.
Sure, like I said, it might have been a scramble to ensure the system didn’t crash, especially in New York, which got hit the hardest and shut down late — but in the end it didn’t crash. In the end our system was prepared enough — either with existing infrastructure, equipment, personnel, and supplies — to handle the load; or the system was prepared enough with the policies, procedures, and people in place to make up for any shortfall to avoid a collapse.
This bears repeating: Without a vaccine, and unless you’re willing to quarantine until there is one, unless you and everyone you live with are perfect at social distancing and hand washing and the like, anyone who’s going to get this is likely to get this. It’s just a matter of when… What we don’t want, what would be intolerable, is Americans dying due to a crashed system.
That didn’t happen, and that’s a massive victory for everyone involved.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.