We’re in a health crisis that local and national opinion leaders have the ability to make much worse. Some are using their influence to create false hope that we can safely go back to work today, or on some date very soon that they’ve made up without any scientific backup. We’re hearing those calls nationally, and lately by some in Alaska (“Restaurant closures,” April 10).
We all want our normal lives back. But if those with influence create false expectations that things will return back to normal faster than is true, they may just “succeed” in creating public pressure for us to go to back to movies, restaurants and the things we all miss before it’s safe. Their victory will be getting us to infect each other in bigger numbers, and extending this unwanted part of our lives months longer.
There is some hopeful discussion we might see on-the-spot testing we can take on our way into work, and potentially reopen businesses safely that way. We’re a wealthy country with experts working on other solutions we all hope will come soon. But until we have a safe solution, folks with a public microphone should stop playing with peoples’ hopes.
— Les Gara
Anchorage
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