Elected officials must reckon with the failures of their responses to Covid-19, or the same mistakes will be repeated in the future.
Elected officials must reckon with the failures of their responses to Covid-19, or the same mistakes will be repeated in the future.
T he Covid-19 pandemic prompted a whirlwind of unprecedented government edicts aimed at defeating a new contagious disease. Despite these mandates and the quickly developed Covid vaccines, more than two years later, the virus remains a threat to the vulnerable, and the country now appears resigned to “living with Covid” rather than continuing the costly war against it. It seems clear that the political response to the virus failed, and it’s worth reflecting on why and how, lest the same mistakes get repeated in the next pandemic.
In March 2020, as the threat of Covid started to become clear, American government officials sprung into action. By the beginning of April, most states had issued stay-at-home and lockdown orders, outlawing significant portions of people’s normal social lives. Schools were shuttered, so-called nonessential businesses were forced to close, medical treatments were restricted, and public spaces were shut.
Governors even prohibited or interfered with some of the most ancient rituals and traditions we share as humans — practices that predate governments, such as funerals, marriage ceremonies, and communal religious services. These gatherings create some of the most meaningful moments in people’s lives, and many of them now had to take place remotely, via video-chat software. The negative impact this had on our collective well-being is incalculable, but no doubt significant.
Despite all these unprecedented restrictions on social activity, the data did not cooperate in early April 2020: The number of reported daily deaths continued to increase in many states. It is difficult to determine the logic behind what came next, but it seems reasonable to assume that many governors desperately wanted to see their policies start to reduce death counts. So they further tightened the screws on society, creating new rules that were both ridiculous and obviously pointless.
These were the times of closed outdoor playgrounds, beaches, nature parks, campgrounds, and golf courses. The times when public-health officials did an about-face on children’s health, recommending that they stay inside in front of a screen rather than go outside, let the sun stimulate the production of some vitamin D, and exercise their growing bodies.
No governor better illustrates this crazy period than Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer. Even after she’d closed a larger portion of businesses than any other governor, Whitmer kept the executive orders coming. At times, she was averaging a new edict every day, issuing so many confusing, complex rules that her administration had to create an online FAQ page in an attempt to answer more than 1,000 different questions.
On April 9, 2020, when Whitmer extended her stay-at-home order, she attempted to close certain sections of big-box stores such as Meijer, Kroger, and Walmart, prohibiting them from advertising or selling flooring materials, furniture, paint, and plants before she’d even required masks to be worn within their walls. She also, for some reason, outlawed motorized boating while allowing the non-motorized variety to continue.
Whitmer’s most perplexing policies, though, related to golf. At the time of her initial lockdown order, the aforementioned FAQ page said golfing was illegal. Her attorney general subsequently clarified that it was nevertheless still legal to go for a walk on a golf course. A couple of weeks later, the Michigan Golf Association sent the governor’s office a letter pointing out that most states still allowed golfing, and she reversed course to permit it again — but not with golf carts. It took another letter from golfing interests pointing out how important carts are to golfers for that ban to be reversed.
We would do well to heed the lessons of the slapdash, authoritarian approach Whitmer and other governors took to managing Covid-19. They ignored the existing plans experts created for responding to pandemics and relied on their emergency powers to issue unilateral decrees. Although they talked a lot about “following the science,” they were essentially flying by the seats of their pants. Little deliberation took place; at best, a small group of state officials tried to regulate the behavior of millions of people. And those millions of people suffered as a result.
Despite the craziness of April 2020, governors have mostly refused to acknowledge their mistakes. Some, including Whitmer, have conceded that they wouldn’t do everything the same if given a second chance, but they have yet to admit any specific error. To be fair, that might be too much to ask of politicians seeking reelection. But we must ask nevertheless, because if our leaders can’t reckon with the failures of their response to Covid, the same failures will be repeated when the next pandemic strikes.