Without doubt, the Covid-19 pandemic requires urgent action: to protect the vulnerable from severe disease and death; to prevent the overwhelming of the health-care system; and to keep businesses, schools, and ordinary life humming. But the sense of panic infusing traditional and social media outlets as they report on the pandemic is out of all proportion to the reality of the situation.
The panic stems from a failure to ask basic questions. Are our leaders setting realistic policy goals? Have they put too much emphasis on eliminating Covid-19? Is there any historical precedent for the rapid completion of a vaccination campaign?
These days, Americans tend to demand that societal problems be 100 percent fixed as soon as they’re discovered. When they’re not, media outlets explode with dire warnings and moral outrage. Not surprisingly, politicians and policymakers respond to this panic, failing to maintain a realistic perspective on what’s possible and what’s not.