Patience is the companion of wisdom

Posted 4/9/20

To the Editor: Did you hear the one about the epidemiologist and the politician? Yes, it only took a few weeks of isolation to spawn coronavirus jokes. Truth is, this is a serious matter. So it's heartening to see that most people are practicing social

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Patience is the companion of wisdom

Posted

To the Editor:

Did you hear the one about the epidemiologist and the politician? Yes, it only took a few weeks of isolation to spawn coronavirus jokes.

Truth is, this is a serious matter. So it’s heartening to see that most people are practicing social distancing, using hand sanitizer, working from home, etc. I’m looking forward to the day when we can interact again, and when we can continue to enjoy and expand the economic benefits that only three weeks ago reached a pinnacle.

However, I do think we have a ways to go, and I frankly don’t share the optimism of our president, who has said that Americans can both go back to work and fight the coronavirus. I also don’t see us going to church on Easter Sunday, though it would be a wonderful celebration if we could.

I believe that social distancing is working. I created a spreadsheet to track the rate of growth of the virus (I have a lot of free time). The data show that the rate of growth of U.S. infections is slowing, from a high of 58 percent, day over day (March 20-21) to 25 percent (March 23-24). This is good news. As the rate of growth declines, we get closer to peak infection.

The bad news is that cases continue to rise and we don’t know when peak infection will occur. Presumably, there will be continued increases in cases as we test more people. We also don’t know how long we need to practice social distancing after peak infection. There was a report out that the virus was found in a cruise ship cabin over two weeks after an infected traveler left it.

Patience is the companion of wisdom, it has been said, and I think we should defer to the wisdom of the epidemiologists and other experts.

Tom Stone

Warwick

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  • Cat2222

    I agree with you Tom Stone. I would rather take health advice from experts than politicians. I approve of the measured approach the Governor is taking and the controlled measures to get everyone back to work. Patience will be important to ensure we do not have to go to suck extreme measures again.

    Monday, April 20, 2020 Report this