Following the Science Where Science Can’t Lead

Read and compare these two snippets from Ted Nesi’s weekly roundup column very carefully.  First (emphasis added):

The targeted restrictions have received praise from national health experts, including former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who praised Raimondo in a tweet, saying, ‘We face hard choices now, and Governors are leading.’ But the governor shouldn’t expect too many holiday cards next month from gym owners. They were left scratching their heads, wondering why workout spaces must shutter while restaurants, retail operations and churches remain open within limits. Raimondo argued the targeted shutdowns are anchored on ‘what is true, what is science, what is fact, what is data and what the health experts are telling me.’ But that didn’t do much for many business owners, including Crossfit Providence owner Tanner Baldauf, who argues they’ve followed all the rules and have been safe. He also worries the two-week pause will turn into another two weeks and then another. ‘Then it just turns into this never-ending two more weeks,’ Baldauf told 12 News.’”

Second (again, emphasis added):

The virus has become so widespread at this point that health officials tell me it’s almost impossible to identify where transmission is happening. To try and shed some light on the issue, IBM offered a new analysis last week indicating 42% of transmissions over the last couple months have happened within families and households, while the remaining 58% have happened at work, restaurants and bars, churches, parks and sports sites. (A full breakdown can be found here.) The data painted a slightly different picture than the one Governor Raimondo has offered in recent months, that the virus was spreading most at social gatherings. And she partly acknowledged that during her weekly news conference Thursday, saying, ‘I’m not going to pretend that we know with great specificity exactly how everyone in Rhode Island has contracted COVID. So I have to make decisions in the face of a lot of uncertainty and I’m going to do my best.’”

Put the two italicized sentences next to each other, and the conclusion that emerges is that we’re supposed to buckle under the governor’s commands (and those of bureaucrats throughout government) because they are issuing them in the name of science, but when analysis highlights the arbitrary nature of their restrictions, the response is that the science isn’t specific enough, so the governor is issuing proclamations about your life based purely on her own judgment.

That gap between what the science shows and what the government is pretending it shows — and the fact that human beings are incapable of conceiving of all of the factors involved, let alone making judgments about them for millions of other people — is why we don’t hand over this much power to government, at least not until recently.  Emergencies, during which government officials can say, “We don’t know exactly what’s going on, but we know it’s not safe to go over to that part of the city,” are one thing.  This is quite another.

Consider the slant that appears even in a seemingly straightforward explanation from the news media.  Nesi misleads his readers by lumping every outside-the-home circumstance into one bucket.  Even if you follow his link to Eli Sherman’s source material, you’ll get a misleading impression.  When breaking down “work, restaurants and bars, churches, parks and sports sites” to their own portions, Sherman gives them as percentages of the 58%.  So, for example, the article says “11% occurred at recreational sites, including churches, parks and sports settings,” but because that’s not a percentage of the whole pie, it’s misleadingly high.  As the following chart shows, that category actually accounts for only 7% of all cases.  In other words, the way Sherman reports the numbers makes it look overstated by almost 60%!

(Let’s ignore for our purposes, here, the bias and insult implicit in calling churches a subset of “recreation.”)

RI-COVID19-TransmissionByLocation

Displaying the facts and data this way shows how absurd it is to target places like gyms and recreation facilities, let alone churches.  To really stop the spread of this virus, the governor would have to claim power to isolate members of families from each other and shut down our productive activity (work and spending).  Such practices would violate our civil rights and destroy our economy, so she’s “doing her best,” and by the time the journalists filter the background information to the public, that almost sounds like a reasonable thing for a temporary dictator to say.

It’s not.  Instead, we should acknowledge reality (you know, believing in science and all), respect rights, and do what planning and management we can around those to great Rs.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in The Ocean State Current, including text, graphics, images, and information are solely those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the views and opinions of The Current, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, or its members or staff. The Current cannot be held responsible for information posted or provided by third-party sources. Readers are encouraged to fact check any information on this web site with other sources.

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