Suppose you set out to undermine and demolish all confidence in health care officials. Suppose, for some twisted reason, you wanted people to mistrust and disbelieve what those officials told them. What would you do? Specifically, what would you do any differently from what was actually done?

I can’t think of anything.

• Covid is not spread person-to-person. Covid is spread person-to-person.
• Nothing to worry about. Be afraid, be very afraid.
• Masks not helpful. Masks helpful. Masks essential, even outdoors. Wear two.
• Those who had Covid are immune. Those who had Covid must get vaccine.
• Those who got vaccine are immune. Those who got vaccine must wear masks.
• Those who had Covid AND got vaccine must still wear masks.
• Those who got vaccine are immune. Those who got vaccine can carry as much virus in their nose and throat as those who didn’t get vaccine.
• Vaccine is essential to return to normal. Those who got vaccine must act exactly the same as those who did not in regard to masks and social distancing.
• Covid is spread more easily in closed spaces. Lock down to slow spread.
• Science requires free discussion and inquiry. Media must ban “misinformation.”

But after each contradiction, there was no explanation, much less apology. True, when new information becomes available, we need to change our approach. But if we want people to continue to trust us, we must explain clearly the reason for the change. Otherwise we descend to the level of the domineering parent yelling “Because I said so!” That may work for a while with small children, but not with adults. Shutting up critics is not a confidence builder.

And then we have the continual opposition to drug treatments, even after ivermectin, a Nobel Prize-level drug approved in 1996, has been shown in multiple studies to reduce the severity and lethality of Covid. In effect, if we got sick we were told to stay home until we had trouble breathing, then go to the hospital. There was NO emphasis on at-home treatment that might prevent hospitalization.

So you tell me: What more could the government and the health bureaucracy have done to undermine our trust? I can’t think of a thing. A demolition contractor couldn’t have done a better job. Dr. Fauci hasn’t treated patients since he completed residency 53 years ago. Perhaps our so-called leaders should remember that they are dealing with human beings, not numbers on a spread sheet or points on a graph.

Respect is like electricity. It flows up, then it must flow down again, or the circuit is broken and the lights go out.

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