Monday morning thoughts:
Some medical conditions worsen if you wait too long, and the treatment will also take longer. (1/n)
Some medical conditions worsen if you wait too long, and the treatment will also take longer. (1/n)
For example, early appendicitis can be treated with relatively simple surgery. But if we wait too long and the appendix ruptures, it will require more extensive surgery and cleanup. (2/n)
But after the appendix ruptures, the simpler procedure won’t work and you have to acknowledge that the bigger surgery is necessary. (3/n)
Similarly, any infectious pandemic can be controlled more easily if caught earlier and affected individuals are isolated quickly. (4/n)
But once it’s gone past a certain point, you have to take more serious and unpleasant measures. The easier steps that might have been appropriate earlier won’t work any more — and wishing won’t make it so. (5/n)
We can argue over what could have been done sooner during this pandemic. But given the spread, a lot of those arguments are now moot. (6/n)
Now our job is to focus on measures that *will* work, including social distancing, helping front-line medical personnel, and assisting development of treatments and eventual vaccines. We will get through this. But we need to stay patient and strong. (7/n)
(Or as a friend put it more eloquently, “Sometimes you can’t unf*ck the pooch.”)
(Oops, of course this should be titled, “Tuesday morning thoughts”!)
