Never let them see you make the sausage –

Famous German Meat Guy, 1843

The same sentiment applies to science. You don’t want consumers to see how sausage is made and the public doesn’t want to see how science is made. Normally, keeping the public in the dark about scientific advancements is pretty straightforward – they don’t care. Just give them the final product and everybody is happy. Start explaining to the average person how companies use their data to track specific interests and purchases and guide their advertising directly to their Facebook page and watch their eyes glaze over. The same goes for climate, physics, chemistry and a bunch of other scientific disciplines. However, if the scientific community is forced to transparently respond to a highly contagious virus while in the middle of a global pandemic, suddenly everyone becomes an expert.

Under normal circumstances, the scientific process is a series of hits and misses, good and bad theories, dead ends and inspired findings. Science moves forward haltingly, perhaps, but always forward. The scientific community clearly understands that not every idea will bear fruit and is thrilled when an investigation moves the science forward on an important subject. Failure is part of the scientific world and nothing to be ashamed of.

Theories are proposed, studies designed, data analyzed, and results compiled. Then, papers are submitted to peer-review publications and other experts begin to weigh in on the quality of the science and the study’s impact on the area of investigation. Papers are also presented at scientific conferences and discussed ad-nauseam. While seeming tedious, this process assures the validity of the results and highlights any weaknesses in the study or findings. Through these steps being followed thousands of times each year in all branches of science, science marches on and our lives are mostly enhanced.

Not in a pandemic, however. Covid is a “once in a century” world-wide public health scourge. This particular virus is a highly infectious, readily adaptable killer with no effective medical treatment. Early on, the Covid virus raced ahead of the medical and public health agencies and never looked back. As if the original virus was not bad enough, subsequent variants have been even more infectious and, possibly, virulent (causing worse disease). Even more frightening, the Delta Covid variant has shown some evidence of resistance to our vaccines. Throughout this 20 month nightmare, virologists and epidemiologists have struggled to understand and control this novel virus. The missteps and adjustments that we have seen in response to the pandemic should be expected and understood when considering the foe. However, every WHO, CDC, and NIH pronouncement and guidance has been met with derision and opposition by the conservative media and politicians. Sure there were awful mistakes made early on, but none of that changes where we are now and that our understanding of this virus is far beyond what we knew in March of 2020.

Just as one example, let’s take a look at the use of masks as an intervention to control the spread of the Covid virus. Asian countries have been using masks to tamp down the spread of influenza and other airborne viruses for years. Back in March of 2020 when masks began to be seen more and more in the US in response to Covid, CDC ill-advisedly announced that masks were ineffective against this virus and the WHO made similar statements. That was wrong and those decisions were based on a fundamental misunderstanding on the main mechanism of the virus spread. Both CDC and WHO were treating Covid as primarily being spread like influenza viruses and there was an incorrect emphasis on fomite spread and “deep cleaning” of inanimate surfaces. However, as described above, the scientific process addressed this problem and before long viral, epidemiological, and engineering data showed clearly that Covid was transmitted through small, respirable droplets which masks were effective in controlling. That’s how science works and that’s how we can begin to gain an advantage over this pandemic. Not in the US, though, now every time masks are mentioned as necessary to control this latest surge, some Republican Governor or Fox talking head will smugly say, “Just a couple of months ago, CDC was telling us NOT to wear masks. Which time are they lying?”, followed by a moronic smirk.

No public health authority is lying. I was originally going to write that sentence as, “Nobody’s lying”, but that would have been – a lie. There are so many people lying right now and the lies are actually costing lives. Not just numbers. Not just “more than 700 people died from Covid today”. These are people whose lives are now ended because, primarily, they believed people who were just lying to them so they could win an election, gain favor with a pompous, orange narcissist, or increase ratings. There are plenty of lies and plenty of deaths. Funny how they travel together.

To summarize, science is messy. It always has been, did you ever notice Einstein’s hair?

Science is also complicated. Science results and advancements can be hard to grasp. Could you explain string theory to someone wearing a MAGA hat? Didn’t think so. Most importantly, science can be easily questioned and that is actually an important asset of the scientific process. The constant questioning keeps science alive and vibrant. Unfortunately, that asset can be twisted by the unscrupulous and cause confusion and doubt among the masses. We are seeing that right now. Up until now, our agencies and experts have not responded effectively. That needs to change.

Stay safe. Stay informed. Get the damn shot.

Sign of the apocalypse: TacoBell is serving breakfast. Who asked for that? No, seriously, who asked for that? I’d like their names.

I’m getting so tired of that lizard on the GEICO commercials. Enough already.

Thank God for “The Weight” by The Band. Greatest rock song ever by an American (and Canadian) group. 53 years old and has never aged. Kinda like me.