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| Dr Ada M Fisher |
Misplaced Blame
To open or not to open, that is
the question. Food, clothing and shelter
are major markers in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs considered essential
services. But in a pandemic -- health
care availability, public safety and emergency services aren’t far behind. Whether businesses or schools should be
considered of such importance is a debate entered by those who fail to
understand human as well as world dynamics.
Reopening schools is a most
important dynamic which should be a prime consideration for our children are
suffering from pandemic enforced isolation and have become most vulnerable to
violence, intellectual poverty without critical resources, diminished physical
activity and many more problems. So too are their parents or guardians who are
in imposed imprisonment under the same self-quarantine under the guise of
social distancing. Of prime concern
should be an understanding that these are they who are our future, but by the
same token, they must be prepared to engage in a world of uncertainty not made
easier by leaders unprepared to lead and media driven Me Too Mania.
As Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of
the nation’s premier infectious disease authorities is sadly acknowledging, the
corona virus is unlike any other and so much is unknown. It is fallacy to assume the world should be
put on lock down until a vaccine is found or immunity can be proven. Such is not likely to happen in the
foreseeable future while the reality is government cannot support people
financially indefinitely. Hundreds of
health care specialist have petitioned the World Health Organization to
acknowledge that the corona virus is air borne.
Such a finding is devastating for it’s an admission that there is no
hiding place from its reach or devastation.
Regular mask as an expectation are not a guarantee of protection but
they are the best hope for limiting the spread of the disease as well as its
possible secondary causes.
Government enforced compliance
with health directives can be imposed under the Police Powers Acts granted in
years past; however, such flies in the face of the US Constitution and Bill of
Rights which guarantees individuals rights of assembly, freedom of religion and
various other individual mandates which cannot be squashed by national
concerns. That will await constitutional
court challenges. Don’t blame the government
when individuals exercise such rights.
We must have persuasive and credible leadership to meet these challenges
using a Bully Pulpit to unite rather than divide.
So let’s talk schools. Yesterday I sent my 8 year old grandson to
the Esse Mae Fox Charter School’s Summer School developed in conjunction with
parts of the Rowan Salisbury School System and he returned a different
child. He was happier, delighted to
engage with his peers and had learned some fundamentals of response to the
pandemic. They got to choose their face
mask which made compliance with their use tolerable, made sanitizer and played
games which captured their imaginations as well as love of the weird and gross
outs. Children need the stimulation
gained from interaction with their peers and as the American Academy of Pediatrics
has acknowledged, there is no substitute for this. Children need to get out of the house and
explore their environment. That’s how
they grow. That self actualization is at
the top of Maslow’s pyramid of needs.
All of this may indeed place
them at risk to their health; but isolation may equally stunt their
growth. One of my favorite medical
school professors, Dr. June Osborn (She headed the US Task Force on AIDS) in
teaching about vaccinations told me she would rather expose her kids to a live
case of Chicken Pox than wait for a vaccine.
Having survived Scarlet Fever, Red Measles (Rubeola), German Measles (Rubella), Meningitis (Viral),
exposure to TB, meningococcal meningitis, Shingles (a form of chicken pox) and
who knows what else from front line service to my fellow humans, one appreciates that all life has certain risk from which one
cannot be isolated.
Understand that despite all
that human kind has been exposed to in the annals of human disease; the corona
virus is unlike anything ever seen. It
seems almost alien. It is theorized that
there is a Swine Flu/1918 Flu like virus which could be worse already in
animals in China -- will it be actualized?
There is no guarantee of anything and though one may wish to second
guess what is, the real question posits there is no hiding place from facing
reality and understanding that we need to get on with life not sequestered in a
fear of what ifs, but using the best advice out there. It’s time to Keep On Keeping On and Get On
With Life.
Ada M. Fisher, MD, MPH is a
former Medical Director in a Fortune 500 company, licensed teacher, retired
physician, former county school board member, speaker, author of Common Sense
Conservative Prescriptions Good for What Ails Us Book 1 (available through Amazon.
Com) and is the NC Republican National Committeewoman.
