{"id":2852,"date":"2020-04-02T11:11:41","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T15:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2852"},"modified":"2020-04-02T11:11:49","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T15:11:49","slug":"the-heart-of-the-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/04\/02\/the-heart-of-the-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Heart of the Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Here\u2019s Don Henley \u2013&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/video\/austin-city-limits-don-henley-heart-matter\/\">The Heart of the Matter<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Un-Prepared<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Right are wrong, the United States wasn\u2019t ready for the corona-virus crisis.&nbsp;&nbsp;We weren\u2019t prepared to test, or isolate, or trace the contacts back to the source.&nbsp;&nbsp;In December, January and February, when we could have made a difference in the national impact of the virus, we didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s not a matter of blame, at least not now when we are in the center of the storm.\u00a0\u00a0Someday, probably in the fall, when we can go back and argue and fight each other, there will be plenty of time of establish blame, and more importantly, responsibility.\u00a0\u00a0But now we need to do whatever we have to do to save lives, and prevent corona-virus from taking millions instead of hundreds of thousands.\u00a0\u00a0We have to isolate everyone, and be socially-distant.\u00a0\u00a0We need to stay home.\u00a0\u00a0That is the only choice we have left to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the argument over testing isn\u2019t over.&nbsp;&nbsp;We will need testing to get through the next crisis, the one we expect to hit after this initial fire has burned through our society.&nbsp;&nbsp;Come September or October, it is likely that the virus will rise again.&nbsp;&nbsp;We won\u2019t have a vaccine yet, and while our hospitals will be far too familiar with treating the disease, we still won\u2019t have a cure either.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Test or Not<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>With testing, we can do what we couldn\u2019t do in February and March.&nbsp;&nbsp;We can find out who has it, and isolate them.&nbsp;&nbsp;We can find out who had it before, and, assuming (only an assumption, not a fact) that they have immunity for some period of time, we can let them go out in society.&nbsp;&nbsp;And we can protect the most vulnerable from getting this second round of infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Testing then, is the heart of the matter.\u00a0\u00a0The ability to test for the virus, and for immunity to the virus, is vital to controlling round two, and maybe rounds three and four.\u00a0\u00a0Absent a vaccine, testing is the only way we can control the virus, and get back to the lives we used to live before, when we thought of Corona as a Mexican beer with lime, not a possible death sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there are partisan politics still surrounding the resources needed for testing.&nbsp;&nbsp;Sure we have to test, but so much is aimed at today\u2019s treatment needs, modalities and possible vaccines.&nbsp;&nbsp;And \u201ctesting\u201d seems to equal \u201cfailure\u201d in the minds of the Trump Administration.&nbsp;&nbsp;They may be right, but it so much more important now then whether they did or didn\u2019t do the right thing while they were laser focused on fending off impeachment and running for re-election.&nbsp;&nbsp;So we, both Democrats and the President, should put blame on the shelf, for now, and test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Proof<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s already happening in the world.&nbsp;&nbsp;South Korea \u201cbeat\u201d the virus by intense testing and isolating.&nbsp;&nbsp;Sweden is gambling that they can do the same, eschewing social distancing and closures, instead testing, tracing, and isolating both the sick and the vulnerable.&nbsp;&nbsp;So far, so good, though they are a nation of \u201clab rat\u201d test subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even here in the United States, isolated areas are trying to test their way out of the disease.\u00a0\u00a0San Miguel County in Colorado, home to the city of Telluride and the extravagant ski resorts in Mountain Village; chased the skiers and the part time residents away.\u00a0\u00a0Then they tested the rest, trying to keep the town safe by isolating the sick.\u00a0\u00a0In their hidden valley surrounded by snow-covered mountains, maybe they can make it work.\u00a0\u00a0But most of the nation doesn\u2019t have the geographical advantages that controls access, and so can\u2019t \u201chide\u201d from contamination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Test to Normalcy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Americans are dreaming of going back to normal.\u00a0\u00a0They want to go to a bar, or a ballgame, or bowling.\u00a0\u00a0Parents want their kids back in school (oh boy do they) and kids are thinking (to themselves) they want back in school as well.\u00a0\u00a0We hear schools talk about \u201cnext fall\u201d and football, as if everything will be \u201cOK\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0But it won\u2019t be, unless we find a way to test everyone, and control what\u2019s happening.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And from a purely political sense, we need testing to guarantee an election in November.\u00a0\u00a0We need testing to determine whether we get to choose the next President of the United States, and who should control the House and the Senate and the state governments.\u00a0\u00a0And since that now means who controls our basic survival, it is beyond important.\u00a0\u00a0It is the heart of the matter.\u00a0\u00a0We must test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s Don Henley \u2013&nbsp;The Heart of the Matter Un-Prepared Right are wrong, the United States wasn\u2019t ready for the corona-virus crisis.&nbsp;&nbsp;We weren\u2019t prepared to test, or isolate, or trace the contacts back to the source.&nbsp;&nbsp;In December, January and February, when we could have made a difference in the national impact of the virus, we didn\u2019t. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/04\/02\/the-heart-of-the-matter\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Heart of the Matter&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Heart of the Matter : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is only one way out of our current corona-virus crisis - isolate everyone. 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