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from what i can gather from this op/ed is hindsight in 2021 is ever always 20/20 and even the best intentions and efforts in a crisis are open to scorn and ridi

from what i can gather from this op/ed is hindsight in 2021 is ever always 20/20 and even the best intentions and efforts in a crisis are open to scorn and ridicule after the fact. "thats the job." isnt a magic incantation at the end of the day its your best effort. the best the little guy does right is what counts. I once had to supervise a shop floor where a worker amputated three fingers in a machine. i stayed to file paperwork, stayed with the gal while the EMT's arrived, coordinated the next shifts, worked nonstop trying to keep things going with blood on my work slacks and after a sixteen hour day I still didnt feel like i did anything but fail. I poured over safety trainings, studied the machine, and remembered all the safety meetings i gave but that still wasnt enough. My foreman told me mottos are for boards and suits. at the end of the day the motto is only as good as the action. what did you do, and how well did you do it? If you walk away complaining then you didnt learn anything and nothing will change. if you have things to work on, things to improve and if you take criticism then yeah, you can say you are living up to the motto and striving to meet it every day. ours was "safety is job 1." I think the CDC tried and did a pretty good job, but what i really want to see is what the CDC and others learn.

the8472 5y ago
I don't think it's viable to defend institutions by saying that things are only obvious in hindsight when other countries did manage to implement sensible policies from the start. For example Taiwan didn't pretend masks or travel bans are ineffective. Reminder that this is what the official narrative looked like in feburary-march 2020: https://twitter.com/UNGeneva/status/1244661916535930886 https://twitter.com/UNGeneva/status/1244661916535930886 https://twitter.com/who/status/1243972193169616898 https://twitter.com/who/status/1243972193169616898 https://i.imgur.com/lGXf03w.jpg https://i.imgur.com/lGXf03w.jpg Sure, public institutions can be wrong and should be allowed to course-correct, but some of this wasn't due to uncertainty but deception, perhaps well-intentioned but still a political decision and not a communication of facts. And once this comes to light (as it did) people will remember it and it'll undermine the credibility of their future decisions.
- makomk 5y ago
  It wasn't just the CDC though - the entire US and to some extent global media, medical and politicial establishments got behind the idea that travel bans were ineffective and counter-productive, the New York Times included. In fact, it's amazing how much US media coverage of why Taiwan was such a success either downplayed or completely omitted to mention their travel restrictions especially early on.
  - foolinaround 5y ago
    An important part of this calculation was responding to what Trump did or did not do on a given subject... When this extraneous considerations like this are considered, decision will be below-par
    - dnautics 5y ago
      I have no lovefor trump, but Did that really matter in the end? Quantitatively speaking, the EU is about as bad, per capita, as the US, in terms of mortality.
shkkmo 5y ago
Many of these mistakes were quite easy to recognize as mistakes when they were made. You can also call into question the decision making processes at the CDC without calling into question their intentions. I sure hope we actually learn from this pandemic rather than being content to blame social media and anti-vaxers for all our problems.

the8472 5y ago

I don't think it's viable to defend institutions by saying that things are only obvious in hindsight when other countries did manage to implement sensible policies from the start. For example Taiwan didn't pretend masks or travel bans are ineffective. Reminder that this is what the official narrative looked like in feburary-march 2020: https://twitter.com/UNGeneva/status/1244661916535930886 https://twitter.com/UNGeneva/status/1244661916535930886 https://twitter.com/who/status/1243972193169616898 https://twitter.com/who/status/1243972193169616898 https://i.imgur.com/lGXf03w.jpg https://i.imgur.com/lGXf03w.jpg Sure, public institutions can be wrong and should be allowed to course-correct, but some of this wasn't due to uncertainty but deception, perhaps well-intentioned but still a political decision and not a communication of facts. And once this comes to light (as it did) people will remember it and it'll undermine the credibility of their future decisions.

makomk 5y ago
It wasn't just the CDC though - the entire US and to some extent global media, medical and politicial establishments got behind the idea that travel bans were ineffective and counter-productive, the New York Times included. In fact, it's amazing how much US media coverage of why Taiwan was such a success either downplayed or completely omitted to mention their travel restrictions especially early on.
- foolinaround 5y ago
  An important part of this calculation was responding to what Trump did or did not do on a given subject... When this extraneous considerations like this are considered, decision will be below-par
  - dnautics 5y ago
    I have no lovefor trump, but Did that really matter in the end? Quantitatively speaking, the EU is about as bad, per capita, as the US, in terms of mortality.

shkkmo 5y ago

Many of these mistakes were quite easy to recognize as mistakes when they were made. You can also call into question the decision making processes at the CDC without calling into question their intentions. I sure hope we actually learn from this pandemic rather than being content to blame social media and anti-vaxers for all our problems.