Posted originally on 9.1.20 — A reminder that, for a thousand discussions, predictions, warnings, or assurances — “what has been predicted about the pandemic & economy will prove true or false as against daily events and their consequences.”
Original post follows —
September arrives. Small-town Whitewater, like all America, wrestles with a pandemic and a recession. In the spring and summer, one often heard that we would know more about the coronavirus and the economy in the fall. Fall now arrives.
There have been, and will continue to be, officials’ claims about how the city, university, and school district are faring.
All these claims face the test of consequence – what has been predicted about the pandemic & economy will prove true or false as against daily events and their consequences.
Many – who have no training whatever – have in Whitewater and elsewhere pored over epidemiological metrics with the apparent anxiety of an elderly person’s preoccupation with obituaries. These metrics should be left to professional evaluation. There’s no more instructive example than the sad case of The Biggest Fool in America.
Will the city’s, university’s, and school district’s respective approaches prove wise or foolish? The interaction and conduct of thousands of residents each day will decide that question. It’s conduct, not official claims, that matters.
We’ll have an answer soon enough.