I wrote this last year and was scared to publish it. Tomorrows post will get a bit more into that, but I wanted to put this out because I can no longer hide behind my fears.
Written April 2020…
As 97% of Americans and billions of people around the world quarantine under shelter-in-place orders or something similar, we’re faced with a growing question, how free are we really?
There are folks out there rebelling against the shelter-in-place orders or restrictions imposed on larger gatherings. Some folks are hosting parties intended to spread this virus. Others are worried about what this means for Democracy and whether it’s allowing Authoritarians to solidify their control over populations.
Freedom of movement is perhaps one of the most fundamental freedoms we need to be happy humans. The vast majority of us that are working to flatten the curve are not doing so because we do not desire this freedom, but we do recognize that in choosing to follow this prescription we’re preventing much greater pain.
The power of choice isn’t unique to the controversial topic of abortion, it is inherent in all of our freedoms. Every freedom represents a nexus of choice and responsibility. For covid there are multiple choices at play.
First, we have the choice on whether to be exposed to the virus or not. Many folks recognize that getting sick would likely limit their choices even as they isolate in their homes. While many who get this virus do not have serious complications, there are still a relatively large number who do. Many have permanent scaring in their lungs which at the very least would limit their choices for future activities and expose them to greater risk of dangerous infections later in life. Being extremely sick at home is one thing, but what if you’ve got kids, what if your significant other has to work. Now the impact is not just on your ability to make choices, but it’s affecting many other folks choices as well.
The scope of choice reduction grows exponentially if the illness rises to the level of requiring hospitalization which is estimated at roughly 20% so far. Once you’re at this stage, you’re basically not making any more of your own choices. You might be taking an opportunity for someone else to be treated or someone might have to choose whether you get life saving care of that goes to someone else. It might be that a choice is made where you don’t make it to an ICU bed and you don’t survive. Along the way you’ve potentially infected countless others and now you’ve limited the choices available to those closest to you who are left to pick up the pieces.
Second, some folks do not have the luxury of choosing to remain home, so the next best thing is choosing to take other precautions such as wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) and practicing excellent hygiene. As a byproduct of these choices, we have the tertiary exposure where those who know they are infected are either careless or intentionally reckless. They take the choice away from others to remain healthy under the guise of exercising and defending their rights. This is a fallacy because we do not have the right to infringe on each others rights in the effort to exercise our own.
Stay Safe Out There,
~Zach