History

To paraphrase Jorge Santayana y Borras "Those who don't remember history are doomed to relive it". The implication is the bad stuff will repeat itself if we don't remember the lessons of the past. Through most of history mankind has suffered from infectious diseases - typhoid, cholera, malaria and plague to name some of the most dangerous. Up until the late 19th century the generally accepted cause was "bad air" or miasma or the wrath of God. The Industrial Revolution and accompanying boom in the urban population together with lack of sanitation, clean water and clean air resulted in these diseases becoming endemic and even pandemic in nature. It was not until the germ theory showed the microbial nature of the pathogens that mankind started to get some degree of control over these diseases. Knowledge of the causes led to the recognition of what are now considered basic rules of hygiene and public health. Finally, the discovery of vaccines and antibiotics led to what seemed like a decisive victory over these diseases. The problem is that towards the end of the 20th century we started forgetting the lessons of the past. The fact that infectious diseases no longer claim millions of lives led to people forgetting how bad it used to be. Ironically, this is most visible in the "advanced" countries of the West where the greatest progress had been made, with the US in the lead. Skepticism and outright suspicion about science leading to the anti-vaccination movement on one hand and overuse of antibiotics on the other are now a serious problem. As a result we now have drug-resistant bacteria such as methicillin resistant staph aureus, flesh-eating bacteria and TB. The 1980s brought a new class of infections starting with AIDS followed by SARS, MERS and now COVID-19. The factors contributing to this wave of viral pathogens is the perfect storm of growing world population, environmental degradation, climate change and globalization. Since no significant progress on these issues seems likely in the near future, we can expect more of these types of "plagues". President Trump may actually believe this problem will magically disappear and soon. At least, he would like us to believe that. That he and his enablers in the Republican party would choose to make political hay out of this situation is despicable to say the least and criminal at worst. This virus is not a hoax and will not oblige him by going away. What it will do is respond to time-tested measures such as wearing masks, testing for the virus and isolating the positives, contact tracing, frequent hand-washing and maintaining physical distance between individuals. The efficacy of these measures will depend on their degree of implementation, recognizing that 100% compliance is unlikely especially in free societies. But let us be clear, denial and obfuscation are not going to work. The absence of a clear and coherent policy based on science will doom us to repeated cycles of the disease. A president who is apparently focused on his own re-election and financial interest cannot provide the kind of leadership we need and the Republicans who persist in supporting him must pay the price for their obsequious conduct of the past 4 years.