Recalling the twisted tyranny of ‘follow the science’ - Washington Examiner

Frida Ghitis : The COVID-19 era began five years ago with the cancellation of some NBA and NHL games, closures of schools, churches, and businesses.

Ghitis says it was a demand that citizens give up their rights and abdicate their responsibility to tend to the common good.

She says myopic experts don't deserve most of the blame; they were doing their job by giving their best guess as to how to fight a viral epidemic. But the people who outlawed church, closed schools, and removed basketball hoops from playgrounds had a broader mandate. They were supposed to balance the fight against the virus with other goods. Most of them didn’t even try, though.

Ruben Navarrette : After Biden declared in 2023 that “COVID no longer controls our lives,” House Republicans introduced a bill to end the travel ban on unvaccinated foreigners.

He says Democrats argued that Congress , the body charged by the Constitution with making laws, shouldn’t pass a law about who is allowed in the country.

But that’s not the job of public health professionals, he says.

John Sutter : Fauci and Collins aren't experts in public policy, but experts.

He says they are supposed to give expert advice to the people elected to make decisions.

Sutter says the president, governors, the mayors, and the county executives have a duty to balance the real concern about viral spread with all the other concerns.