The Covid-19 Epidemic: The Unmitigated Spread of "Viruses of the Body" and "Viruses of the Mind."

A while back (long before the Covid 19 pandemic) Richard Brody argued that there are two kinds of viruses: "Viruses of the Body" and "Viruses of the Mind."  Both are contagious and subject to evolutionary change over time, based on variation and natural selection under various environmental conditions. "Viruses of the Body" spread from individual bodies to populations of individual bodies. In contrast, "Viruses of the Mind" spread  within individual minds, and eventually infect collective minds, or cultures. The contagion rate of both kinds of viruses can be calculated in terms of the percentage of the population infected at any given time and/or place. And the mortality rate of both can be calculated based on the percentage of deaths caused by that that infection at any given time/place.  Mortality rates vary relative to the overall health of those individuals who are infected. Moreover, the contagion rate and mortality rate of both Viruses of the Body and Viruses of the Mind can be calculated for various sub-groups (old/young, male/female, healthy/unhealthy). Over time, Viruses of the Mind, can get locked into tradition and become even more difficult to identify let alone mitigate.  Scientists tell us that the contagion rate and mortality rate of the Covid-19 bodily virus can be "mitigated" by wearing a mask, staying at least 6 feet away from strangers, avoiding indoor crowds, and most of all by getting vaccinated. So how might viruses of the mind become mitigated? Well, the obvious answer is by spreading the truth via education and through well-informed media outlets. In recent years, the cultural environment of the United States has been shaped and reshaped, largely, by government and the corporate "mass media," especially the CDC and Facebook. Unfortunately, today, most Americans know very little about science, only a small percentage go to college, and only a few take a biology course in high school or college.  And, similarly, most of our politicians graduated from law schools and opted out of difficult math and science electives. Consequently, there are many unmitigated "viruses of the mind" circulating within US culture including: sedentary lifestyles, dropping out of high school, drinking and driving, over-eating, and over-drinking. Most recently, there has been a virus of the mind that cultivates an unsubstantiated, culturally-driven fear of Covid-19 vaccines, despite the fact that that the FDA has deemed several of those drugs relatively safe and effective. In short, the United States is especially vulnerable to a wide variety of media-driven Viruses of the Mind: most notably, an endemic distrust of credentialed experts, including: researchers, physicians, teachers, and biologists. There is also a cluster of Viruses of the Mind based on a body of tradition associated with educational institutions, most notably our insistence that public schools "babysit" for children 6-8 hours a day; mostly so both parents can work 8 hours a day. Thus, when schools close, parents (especially mothers) must either find alternative childcare or miss work. And of course, the alternative to "Face-to-Face" teaching/learning is "Virtual" teaching/learning, (on a computer) which is excruciatingly boring for students and teachers alike. Virtual teaching/learning is also dependent upon students having computers, software, and Internet access at-home, which many families cannot afford. Understandably, school boards are reluctant to close schools in order to mitigate the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Nor are they all willing to require misinformed students, faculty and staff to wear masks all day, or even require everyone to get vaccinated before they can attend school "face-to-face." Covid-19 thrives, especially, in older architectural structures. Many older public school buildings lack adequate heating, cooling and ventilation. Not surprisingly, the vast majority (90%) of children that are hospitalized, today, with Covid-19 are from the inner city, unvaccinated, and suffer from other underlying diseases that compromise their immune systems. And in the early pre-symptomatic stages of the disease, students unwittingly carry Covid-19 home, and pass it on to their unvaccinated parents, grandparents, and siblings. Consequently, many hospital emergency rooms are now overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients, and many healthcare professionals and those work in factories that produce masks and tests, and various drugs are unwilling or unable to work overtime, if at all. Given the realities of unemployment insurance, Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare many "essential workers" are not showing up to work.   Moreover, there are national, regional, and localized shortages of masks, tests, and therapies. Thus many Americans are masklessly attending "super-spreader events." In light of the aforementioned Viruses of the Mind, what are the prospects for short-term mitigation of Viruses of the Body, such as the Covid-19 virus in the United States?