Post # 130, Bob McKnight's Florida Commentary
If there are limits on the cure for Covid--who gets it first?
For many years our country has found itself almost evenly divided among 2 opposite classes:
Republican--Democrat
Liberal--Conservative
North--South
Black--White
Have-Have nots
Every national election cycle seems to bear this dichotomy out with an almost equal 50-50 vote. Lately with the Covid-19 Pandemic, the class split seems to be on:
Open Business--Close Business
Open Schools--Close Schools
Require Testing--Don't Require Testing
Require Masks--Don't Require Masks
Require Social Distancing--Don't Require Social Distancing
Perhaps because Covid is really a public health issue with the possibility of sickness or death, the numbers lean toward keeping activity closed.
When the spread of the virus is under control with social distancing, testing, and masks, the issue will turn to the medical cure for the virus. Over the weekend President Trump used emergency powers to authorize a vaccine that is not proven, after publically attacking his own agency for not doing so earlier. Multiple tests of serums are occurring all over the world, and it is very possible that a cure will be found in early 2021. Since the virus is world wide, innoculation for it will have to occur world wide. No one knows what the cost of the serum will be, nor the conditions under which it must be administrated. The approximate numbers to be treated are almost 8 Billion people. Multiple shots may be required, which doubles or triples the entire challenge. If there are challenges in administering the cure ranging from cost, to logistics, to obstacles, to errors, to mistakes, among many others, we will have a major decision of who gets it, when, how and what is the order of administration? Our current racial strife could become out of control if someone decides white people receive the serum before black people, for example. The challenge could very well be just the opposite. If people who can afford to pay for it get it before people given it at the expense of the government is another riveting example of what could be coming.
These are financial, moral, ethical, logistical, medical decisions all rolled into one issue--public health. It will test our will as people living together on this planet like never before.
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