The Coronavirus Was a Political Tragedy, Not a Medical Trauma
Peggy Noonan remains unwilling to acknowledge the truth about the political tragedy that was the coronavirus. See her recent commentary about Anthony Fauci. While critical of him, she described him as the man appointed “to lead a nation through a disaster.” Ok, stop right there.
Fauci became a known quantity to a very small number of Americans in February of 2020, and then an enormous number the following month. Except that no “disaster” revealed itself in February.
By February a virus with Chinese origins was known to be spreading in China, but even then it was obviously not a major killer. And that’s not a medical comment.
Instead, it’s just a comment that equity markets are information processers par excellence. And with the virus spreading throughout China, China by far the biggest non-U.S. market for the biggest and best U.S. companies (think names like Apple, Nike, Tesla, and many more), those same companies’ shares were hitting all-time highs. Translated, markets look ahead and they were in no way pricing mass death or illness in China.
Which speaks to why Fauci went from largely unknown in February to insanely famous in March. While there was no “disaster” taking place in the U.S., there was a political one brewing. Yes, politicians were panicking. Their panic was aided by Fauci. He, like all too many members of the political class (including President Trump), decided that the solution to the virus’s spread was for federal, state and local governments to create mass unemployment for Americans, and in figuratively freezing the U.S. economy, Trump and his panicky minions would foist abject poverty on hundreds of millions around the world.
Say it repeatedly that the “disaster” was political, not medical. Why Noonan continues to gloss over this truth is thoroughly mystifying. And for so many reasons.
One of them is that as a New York sophisticate through and through, it’s no reach to speculate that Noonan reads the New York Times daily. This rates mention simply because alarmist as the newspaper was on its front page about the virus, its articles about it were far more evenhanded the more one read them. Notable here is that the Times was clear all along that over 40% of the deaths related to the virus took place in nursing homes. From this, it’s no reach to conclude in consideration of nursing home demographics that all-too-many died with the virus, not solely because of it.
Fast forward to October 13, 2021, the Times led with a front-page article with the title “COVID HAS KILLED ONE OF EVERY 100 OLDER AMERICANS.” Covid or old age? Either way, it raises a question about Noonan’s commentary: she’s older and runs with an older cohort, did she really live through all the deaths she gives the impression she did?
None of this is to minimize any death. Or old people. Furthermore, it’s a lousy argument.
Truly the worst arguments made against the lockdowns were and are medical and statistical. Freedom quite simply should not be taken, period.
Furthermore, and if per Noonan “the trauma and fear of the first months” was so evident, why the need for governmental force to live and work with caution? Noonan has never bothered to address or answer the previous question. Instead, she’s continued to draw a picture wholly at odds with what happened.
Sorry, but the tragedy was once again political. Freedom was taken and people suffered mightily the cruel effects of a political blunder. Noonan is still writing about “disaster,” but has yet to happen on the truth that absent politicians panicking, there’s neither disaster nor any discussion of Anthony Fauci today.
Originally published on Real Clear Markets.