One of the ugly results of so many government people working at home for month after month is that they've become untethered to reality. A benefit of going to an office, having personal meetings, and being around strangers is that you maintain a solid link to the society you're trying to influence. That link's gone for a lot of these public health officials. They aren't being confronted by opponents, or even mild critics.
Then they go on social media to try to get out the message that they ardently believe in, and problems develop. As you say, the response is not to reflect or change course, it's to accuse the critics of the same mistakes they themselves are making.
An applicable question: are practicing doctors playing any formal role in setting covid policy where you are? In Washington, it seems they aren't. I don't know what happened to the America's Frontline Doctors group, but it claimed to have better insights on the disease because its members were treating patients, not sitting in home offices videoconferencing and emailing and tweeting.
One of the ugly results of so many government people working at home for month after month is that they've become untethered to reality. A benefit of going to an office, having personal meetings, and being around strangers is that you maintain a solid link to the society you're trying to influence. That link's gone for a lot of these public health officials. They aren't being confronted by opponents, or even mild critics.
Then they go on social media to try to get out the message that they ardently believe in, and problems develop. As you say, the response is not to reflect or change course, it's to accuse the critics of the same mistakes they themselves are making.
An applicable question: are practicing doctors playing any formal role in setting covid policy where you are? In Washington, it seems they aren't. I don't know what happened to the America's Frontline Doctors group, but it claimed to have better insights on the disease because its members were treating patients, not sitting in home offices videoconferencing and emailing and tweeting.