HERD IMMUNITY FOR COVID-19? NO THANKS

When people are desperate, they panic and make emotional decisions, like recommending herd immunity for treatment of coronavirus Covid-19. This is not a criticism, because to criticize can be interpreted as an attack and this is not an attack. People get defensive if they feel attacked.  This is just disagreement. Panic is natural at a time of the coronavirus, and many of us feel it.  But panic is also a time that brings in easy concepts, that brings in quick and emotional thinking, like recommending herd immunity.  Emotions don’t think. Easy concepts don’t work.  Sorry but they are too simple. 

You can tell I’m Canadian right, because I am apologizing. Why not?  I do not think I am not wrong but it is my way of being compassionate.  Also, I am a Canadian psychologist, I often apologize.  Again, I am not pleading guilty, I am just empathizing. I am trying to promote mental health and emotional well-being, encouraging others to be compassionate toward themselves and toward other people.  We recommend that.  (https://www.goodtherapy.org).  Compassion is an emotional response believed by many to be an essential aspect of well-being and improved mental and emotional health. Do you think it makes you soft or naive? No, it makes you smart and strong.  So I am not attacking anyone for their beliefs. Like all good men. 

Anyway, sorry for digressing. Thanks for the herd immunity idea. No ideas are stupid. But, sorry, it seems to me that herd immunity is rushing a solution prematurely. It is appealing as it is simple and seems cut and dry. That is an example of lazy thinking, which, through contagion, seems to be popular.  Emotional thinking usually wants simple concepts because it can’t think and weigh pros and cons. Emotions don’t think. The mind thinks. Herd immunity is one of those simplistic concepts that is not well thought out.  It is motivated by emotion related to the positive feeling that comes from showing somebody else up.  And by wanting to be right and having an easy answer.  When you have a positive feeling this way, that feeling takes over, and trumps reason, as if reason takes too long and so shouldn’t be trusted, because you want the good feeling right away. But reason is thinking and emotion are feelings!  Good feelings come when you know you have thought it through fully and have an answer that works.  Not herd immunity.  Emotion keeps things simple. But, sorry, it’s not simple, man!  It’s not that easy. In this case it divides the population into old and young while ignoring the vast middle.  We need the mind to use logic and systematic reasoning instead to attack this problem.  Let me help with that. 

The Barrington Declaration which is behind herd immunity recommends Focused Protection. They say that current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. They say the results include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.   

Maybe, but probably not. That sounds good, but it won’t work. This is too simple. They are concerned about people in nursing homes and retired people living at home, who should have groceries and other essentials delivered to their home. Thanks but no thanks. Who would deliver all these groceries to the many seniors now out there?  Other seniors who would want to earn more money?  Would seniors be allowed to leave their homes?  Who would enforce that, police?  Do you really want to have police’s time tied up this way?  Seniors comprise almost 20% of the population.  We like to go for walks, get exercise and fresh air and meet our neighbors.  That promotes health and well-being. Could you deliver groceries and essentials to all these people’s homes?  What if we weren’t home? Even if you get a few drivers, who would pay them?  Would the cost be added to the groceries?  Would there be enough drivers to deliver the food before it went bad?  Have all these questions and others been thought through?  This is why it’s not simple.  

Besides, home is not a prison. When possible they say we should meet family members outside rather than inside. Thanks for thinking of us, but this won’t work in winter. It sounds so simple but it really isn’t at all.  It robs us as seniors, with knowledge and wisdom, and our grandkids, as learners, from good learning times with us and them. And good memories. They would make us stay locked in our homes and have someone deliver our groceries, although our getting out, wearing masks, social distancing and washing hands prevents contact anyway, and we are careful as well. It allows us to socialize and meet friends and neighbors in the store, which is healthy and prolongs life. Don’t laugh, it shows you are naive (and stupid, but I shouldn’t say that, so, sorry) if you laugh at this idea.  Research, which psychologists do, proves this is right. Yes, psychologists are scientists. With knowledge, facts and intuition. The best of both worlds.  

The Barrington Declaration which focuses on herd immunity should resume life as normal, say some doctors. They say it will cause far fewer to die. But no that’s not true. This is not supported by scientific evidence. Generations cannot be separated. We see our granddaughters regularly. We are important to each other. And it is healthy and helps the parents. Also, this disease has no known length of time as to immunity, as it has only been around for a few months now, from March to now, October 2020.  So we don’t really know for sure how long immunity will last. Or how many types of this illness there are.  Or whether a different type could recur.  Or if the same type could recur a year or two later.  Who knows for sure if the immunity lasts and for how long?  Herd immunity may not really exist until we know for sure..  But, like anything, there is some wisdom there, so thanks for the idea. 

They say those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. OK good, but this isn’t new. They say that schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching, extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed, young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home, restaurants and other businesses should open, arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. I assume then that the NFL would return to crowds of 75,000?  And indoor concerts with 20,000 attending is ok?  Do we need birth certificates to get in since seniors are not allowed?  There would be a death toll after every game and concert. with massive crowds, just as there are from Trump rallies.  Are you guys crazy?  Sorry, I have to wonder. This is lethal and ridiculous. It is called a super-spreader. No thanks.  It is not simple. It sounds good, and I wish it could work, but it won’t  You have been listening to Trump way too much.  He is not a knowledgeable man.  He sounds like he is but, sorry, no.  

Herd immunity may not mean what you think it is, just protect the elderly and let the young people get sick as if they have the flu. What is the big deal you may think, we when you are in your simple mode, we all get the flu sometimes, and we will protect the elderly so they don’t get sick. This isn’t the flu. This is too simple.  It naively divides society into two crisp categories, old and young, which is unrealistic. The problem is that some middle-aged people, who are not elderly, from age 35 to age 64, die from the coronavirus. Did you know that? Herd immunity doesn’t plan for that. In fact, there are 4,119 who have died from the coronavirus between ages 35 and 44, 10,837 who died between ages 45 and 54, and 25,971 who died between 55 ages and 64, in the U.S. as of mid-October, 2020. This is a total of 40,927 aged between 35 and 64 who have died as of mid-October. The Barrington Declaration and Focused Protection are recommending a plan that gives us devastating effects of 40,927 deaths but they are saying they want something better because devastating effects are already there?  This doesn’t make sense. Thanks for the solution, but no thanks it won’t work. There is no easy solution for this.  Do they just want the middle-aged to die after they catch Covid-19 at restaurants, concerts and football games? ?  Who would be the parents for the kids?  The grandparents who have to stay home?  Again, this is ridiculous. Our society would fall apart. This sounds like a disaster in the making.  Again, no thanks.

What the Barrington People are doing is common to what people do when they are emotional and desperate. They avoid complications and reduce it to simplicity.  Does not sound familiar?  It should.  It is Trump’s trademark.  That’s how he attracts his base.  But it is so simple it is lethal.  Herd immunity is never used as a strategy and we cant let an unknown virus run free.  This is all an example of toxic emotional contagion because it is an example of simplicity under the emotion of panic and desperation. It is like you guys think we do this now or we are doomed forever.  No, that’s all-or-nothing thinking.  By the way, toxic emotional contagion kills people.  Simplistic solutions give positive feelings which blind people to the points they have missed.  I have mentioned a few here. Probably there are more.  But thanks for trying anyway.  But again, sorry, it won’t work.  Wish it did.  

The ounce of wisdom there is that we may eventually end up relying on a few anti-vaxxers who don’t agree to take the inevitable vaccine in the next year or two, because they are paranoid and believe in conspiracy theories, so that they will develop herd immunity, as the rest of us, about 80% or more, decide to take the vaccine.  If there is no law against refusing the vaccine, as there shouldn’t be, then the other 20% will see eventually that people on the vaccine are fine and healthy, so in the following few months, about another 10% or so will probably decide to take the vaccine, as they discover a few anti-vaxxers refuse it and get sick, so herd immunity will eventually cover us all, with only a small drop of wisdom from the Barrington Declaration. Thanks for the drop, folks.  But that’s all we are taking, folks!!    

The turmoil in the US is caused by toxic emotional contagion!

People pick up the toxicity from Trump and spread it around not realizing it’s contagious.

Only Trump knows this and milks it for all it’s worth.

It keeps him going!

Stop responding to his contagious toxicity!

Trump is an expert on spreading emotions. 

He gets attention by spreading emotions through his outlandish behavior.  

You have to #Resist him because 

his style is to use Contagion to spread his appeal. 

Trump makes little sense, does not hold a cohesive argument, does not use words properly, cannot construct a logical sentence himself that hold more than one idea.  So he has to govern through emotion, by rousing up a lot of emotion and excitement in people.  Watch him.  He does it almost every day.  He takes a ride around the hospital yesterday, today when he gets back to the White House, he irresponsibly takes off his mask.  He knows it get will attention.  People always talk about him.  Trump is overly reactive, impulsive, and immature, but, somehow, he is skilled at it at the same time.  

So the emotions spread from person to person.  They are contagious.  There is no place for reason or ideas because emotions don’t think and people can’t process ideas with emotion. And emotion spreads excitement. It is contagious. Trump is the perfect example of governing by emotional contagion.

He is an expert on spreading emotions. He gets attention by spreading emotions through his outlandish behavior.  He does something stupid almost every day and everyone reacts to it emotionally, because emotional behavior automatically stimulates other emotional behavior.  That’s what attracts people to him.  It doesn’t make sense.  But it’s not supposed to make sense. People then vote emotionally.  Watch him.  It works. Don’t vote emotionally.  Reason it out.  This is not a vote of popularity. It is a vote for ability to use skills and talent to get things done in a way that is a good direction for the country.  

Trump bases his comments on how much he gets people to be emotional because he knows emotions don’t think and are contagious. And contagious emotions spread havoc. So he says things like this: He refuses to commit to a peaceful transition of power after Election Day