Viruses Don’t Play Favorites, But the Media Does

As a family physician, when a patient comes to my office, we ask them several questions. We ask about current symptoms, any medications they may be taking, and their general state of health. We even ask about their health history and the health history of their family members.

We do not ask them if they are Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, or Green Party. We do not ask them about where they stand on policy and political issues or, for instance, the latest Supreme Court ruling. And that is as it should be: the health of a human being is not contingent upon political considerations.

In the same way, viruses – even the novel Coronavirus that came out of Wuhan China – do not discriminate based upon political affiliation or views.

However, the same is not true of the national media. In May, when thousands of concerned citizens appeared at various state capitol buildings around the country to protest the lock downs and speak out in favor of reopening their states, the media was quick to bring up the Coronavirus contagion risk. They portrayed these protesters as being selfish, and not caring about their fellow citizens, even though many were motivated by the severe economic hardship they saw being caused by the shutdown.