John Thompson, historian and retired teacher, has posted here many times about education and politics in his home state of Oklahoma.
He writes today about the politics of the pandemic:
When David Holt was elected mayor of Oklahoma City, I shared some of the concerns of fellow educators. I worried that the former Republican state senator would push for more charters, perhaps even the so-called “portfolio model.” But, what I’ve seen has been a civil rights advocate who actually listened to all sides. I repeatedly hear from friends that Holt has probably spent more time in African-American churches than all of our city’s previous mayors combined, and I suspect that is a big reason why he hasn’t bought the simplistic spin which many other Oklahoma leaders have.
I’ve attributed Mayor Holt’s open-mindedness, in large part, to the conversations that went with his celebration of the 60th anniversary of the nation’s largest Sit-In movement, which was led by Oklahoma City teachers and students. He listens. He’s not afraid to face hard facts of life.
In his 2020 State of the City address, Mayor Holt proposed a “big picture, everything-is-on-the-table, visionary conversation” about making schooling a team effort. Holt said it would “truly” be a collaboration between the OKCPS, the City of Oklahoma City, and community partners. Our schools and city need a “unified vision,” he explained. We especially need educators who “feel free to talk about the things nobody could achieve on their own.”
Mayor Holt is now facing a challenge he cannot overcome on his own. And sadly, the stakes this month are life and death. I strongly believe that most people in Oklahoma City support the mayor’s leadership and his shelter-in-place policies. But we’re also the state where “one city abandoned its mask rule after store clerks were threatened,” and a McDonald’s customer shot two employees because she was “angry that the restaurant’s dining area was closed.”
So, I’m turning to a national education blog in order to tell a full story of a conflict that is growing across the nation. And since the Oklahoma governor intends to open up the state to an even more dangerous degree on May 15, our mayor, who has listened so respectfully to all sides but, above all, to the science, needs the public’s support.
For the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic, it looked like Mayor David Holt would be going down in history as Oklahoma City’s version of Dr. Anthony Fauci. Holt deserves much of the credit for helping Oklahoma City once be ranked by the New York Times as one of the nation’s top cities where “There May Be Good News Ahead.” The Times further explains that the April contagion’s decline occurred in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, but that the state is facing a rebound of the virus.
After facing irresistible pressure to prematurely reopen the city’s economy, it might seem like the Holt-Fauci comparison won’t endure. I believe that the next few weeks could further illustrate Holt’s and Fauci’s similarities. In both cases, the outcomes could be tragic.
In early March, Mayor Holt made it clear, “We will listen to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), we will listen to our local public health officials and we will follow the best science that the world has to offer.” Despite pressure to reopen Oklahoma City’s economy to boost short-term economic outputs, Holt says, “We will prioritize life.”
Similarly, as explained by Stanford’s David Reiman, Dr. Fauci “has essentially become the embodiment of the bio-medical and public-health research” which must drive decision-making. He’s done so by becoming “completely a-political and nonideological.” Fauci learned from the AIDS crisis, where he was among the first to sound the warning. He listened to protesters and adjusted his thinking based on solid evidence. Then and now, and when dealing with epidemics in between, Fauci saved countless lives by placing science over politics.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/20/how-anthony-fauci-became-americas-doctor
Dr. Fauci is disparaged by rightwingers as “Dr. Doom Fauci.” Mayor Holt has faced similar pressures. He must deal with Gov. Kevin Stitt’s dangerously mixed messages. And the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), a free-market think tank, has pushed a petition, claiming it “appears to fall in line with the recent goals announced by Gov. Kevin Stitt.” The OCPA denigrated “shelter-in-place” orders as “oppressive.” In doing so, it makes the type of simplistic claim which could be doubly dangerous as we navigate the complexities of returning to a more normal economy.
https://oklahoman.com/article/5660521/tulsa-tea-party-leader-organizing-back-to-work-rallies
https://oklahoman.com/article/5659690/stitt-says-his-safer-at-home-order-is-the-same-as-a-shelter-in-place-is-it
https://www.ocpathink.org/post/citizen-petition-supports-reopening-state
OCPA President Jonathan Small argues that Oklahoma doesn’t face a shortage of hospital beds so there is no “valid reason” for not allowing people to return to work. In fact, a premature attempt to return to normal could spread the virus, undermining the economy, as well as causing avoidable deaths. This will remain especially true until widespread testing for the virus is in place.
Even worse, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, the Governor’s Council on Workforce Development, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, and Stitt have indicated they support policies that could require workers to choose between their health and their income. Worse still, The Frontier reports that Secretary of Commerce and Workforce Development Sean Kouplen is urging employers to report workers “if they refuse a job offer from their former employer as the state begins to reopen.”
As state reopens, Oklahoma workforce leaders discuss asking for end to federal unemployment payments
State encourages businesses to report workers who refuse to return to jobs
Because of Oklahomans’ pre-existing health problems, our state is especially at risk. Like Dr. Fauci, Mayor Holt’s first and probably most important contribution was the decisiveness which kept Oklahoma City from repeating the tragic quarantine delays in Italy, Spain, Detroit, and New Orleans. When the virus peaks, however, more complicated and nuanced decisions must be made. As Charles Duhigg explains in the New Yorker, “Epidemiology is a science of possibilities and persuasion, not of certainty or hard proof.”
Even though it made no sense to open barber shops, hair and nail salons, and spas by May 1 or earlier, nobody knows what is the right timing for reopening the economy. As Holt explains, “May 1st is not a light switch, it is a dimmer.” After expressing his concerns about Stitt’s reopening order, Holt said he intends to monitor data and adjust accordingly, and “If there’s a sudden shift, if there’s a spike, then obviously this experiment has failed and we have to go back to an earlier phase.”
http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/msnbc-live/2020-04-27
Holt says he wields “a pen, not an army.” He correctly adds that people are choosing to respect public health officials’ expertise. Holt shares the credit for our social distancing successes, “People are staying home because they don’t want to die.” And yes, he was correct in asking, “who in their right mind” would want to end restrictions too early?
Oklahoma City Mayor Holt issues “shelter in place” order effective Sat night
A Greater Oklahoma City Chamber survey backs the mayor’s appraisal. It found 67 percent of responding businesses cited “employee fear” as the biggest barrier to reopening. Moreover, 37 percent of companies plan to bring employees back in stages, as opposed to 20 percent intending to return their entire staff at once.
https://journalrecord.com/2020/04/30/some-businesses-reopening-others-remain-closed/
Neither Holt nor Fauci know exactly what our next steps should be and when to take them. But, as long as we can learn from their leadership, we can all make wiser decisions.
Across the nation, some are responding to President Trump’s incitements, even bringing automatic weapons into the Michigan capitol to protest that state’s stay-at-home policies and in Stillwater, Ok, threatening violence to to stop the order to wear masks in businesses.
However, the New York Times’ David Brooks offers hope that Americans will listen to leaders like Holt and Fauci. Brooks distinguishes between “weavers and rippers.” He says, “The weavers try to spiritually hold each other so we can get through this together. The rippers, from Donald Trump on down, see everything through the prism of politics and still emphasize division.” Brooks concludes, “Fortunately, the rippers are not winning. America is pretty united right now.”
He cites polls showing that “98 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of Republicans supported social distancing rules,” and that “nearly 90 percent of Americans think a second wave of the virus would be at least somewhat likely if we ended the lockdowns today.”
As Nondoc reported, the early evidence on Oklahoma City’s reopening is mixed. Were it not for Holt’s leadership, however, I wonder how many more Oklahomans would be open to an absurd campaign to discredit “weavers” like Dr. Fauci and the Oklahoma experts who haven’t been able to persuade Stitt to slow down.
https://nondoc.com/2020/05/01/some-oklahoma-businesses-re-open/
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What a heartening post in this tragic, sinister age. I knew nothing about Mayor Holt, but he’s someone I’ll be paying attention to from now on. And I really appreciated the link to the New Yorker piece; have a feeling I’ll be quoting parts of it for a while. I’ve only been to Oklahoma City once. Will there I visited the Murrah Building memorial one night as a summer storm was approaching, so I was there alone. I encourage anyone who visits there to go in the evening. It’s arguably the most emotionally touching memorial in the nation.
Just read that New Yorker article again and it is really good. Worth sharing with all your friends and acquaintances who don’t get it—-and those who do. And here’s the full paragraph with the profound quote that John cites:
“”Epidemiology is a science of possibilities and persuasion, not of certainties or hard proof. ‘Being approximately right most of the time is better than being precisely right occasionally,’ the Scottish epidemiologist John Cowden wrote, in 2010. ‘You can only be sure when to act in retrospect.’ Epidemiologists must persuade people to upend their lives—to forgo travel and socializing, to submit themselves to blood draws and immunization shots—even when there’s scant evidence that they’re directly at risk.”
People are having to decide whether to go to work or stay home and starve.
What is to happen in states where politicians are threatening to take away unemployment insurance when offered a job, like meat packing, where people are getting infected? Fauci is ‘doctor doom’ to Trump believers.
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The Washington Post
Democracy Dies in Darkness
News Alert May 15, 8:09 AM
A majority of Americans going to work fear exposing their household to the coronavirus, a Post-Ipsos poll shows
A Washington Post-Ipsos poll of more than 8,000 adults in late April and early May found that nearly 6 in 10 Americans who are working outside their homes were concerned that they could be exposed to the virus at work and infect other members of their household.
Nearly 1 in 3 Americans — and over half of those with jobs — have continued to leave the house for work at least once a week as the virus spread and states issued stay-at-home orders, the poll found.
Last night I read through the CDC’s recommendation on reopening. Oklahoma has not met the requirements of the first column to begin reopening. Now while I believe rural Oklahoma should be able to go about their business while still practicing health and safety measures, OKC, Tulsa, and their suburbs should remain closed. The CDC further went on recommendations of opening schools. Stitt opening way too early is going to delay the ability to reopen schools come August.
From what I’ve gathered most right leaning citizens in our state are completely confused, misinformed over the reasonings for closing it down. They simply do not understand that by closing we minimize the spread. They believe we shut down to develop a vaccine, like Trump promised, and/or believe herd immunity is the answer. Over half of the US would have to contract the virus, and who knows at what level, before herd immunity could take place.
John Hopkins stated that for everyone case, that person can infect 25-50. We’re closing in on 5000+ positive cases. If we take the median between 25-50, it’s around 37.5. If we had not closed down we would be looking closer to, maybe even more than 187,500 positive cases right now in our state. Furthermore an Oklahoma health official stated yesterday that we are about to see a huge spike and that our recovered numbers do not tell the true story. That in order to safely reopen we must retest all positives. Right now the state considers recovered not hospitalized, not dead, and 14 days past a positive test. That’s it. No follow-up. We do not know how sick you have to be, before your body develops antibodies. An elderly CA woman, one of the first positive/hospitalizations has been re-hospitalized. A man in NYC has gotten it for a second time.
My husband is a well respected h.s. Arts teacher, who is on the state academic standards writing team. He also just happens to have cystic fibrosis. We have zero clue, and do not want to know, how someone with CF’s body would react. I’m a teacher as well. I have a rare genetic disorder that makes me immunocompromised. I was working as a certified long term substitute, so I could work on my M.Edu. We’re now living on one teachers salary. We’ve been in isolation since March 13th with two tweens daughters. It’s not fun, no one likes it, but it’s what we have to do to keep everyone healthy.
Last night I read through the CDC’s recommendation on reopening. Oklahoma has not met the requirements of the first column to begin reopening. Now while I believe rural Oklahoma should be able to go about their business while still practicing health and safety measures, OKC, Tulsa, and their suburbs should remain closed. The CDC further went on recommendations of opening schools. Stitt opening way too early is going to delay the ability to reopen schools come August.
From what I’ve gathered most right leaning citizens in our state are completely confused, misinformed over the reasonings for closing it down. They simply do not understand that by closing we minimize the spread. They believe we shut down to develop a vaccine, like Trump promised, and/or believe herd immunity is the answer. Over half of the US would have to contract the virus, and who knows at what level, before herd immunity could take place.
John Hopkins stated that for everyone case, that person can infect 25-50. We’re closing in on 5000+ positive cases. If we take the median between 25-50, it’s around 37.5. If we had not closed down we would be looking closer to, maybe even more than 187,500 positive cases right now in our state. Furthermore an Oklahoma health official stated yesterday that we are about to see a huge spike and that our recovered numbers do not tell the true story. That in order to safely reopen we must retest all positives. Right now the state considers recovered not hospitalized, not dead, and 14 days past a positive test. That’s it. No follow-up. We do not know how sick you have to be, before your body develops antibodies. An elderly CA woman, one of the first positive/hospitalizations has been re-hospitalized. A man in NYC has gotten it for a second time.
My husband is a well respected h.s. Arts teacher, who is on the state academic standards writing team. He also just happens to have cystic fibrosis. We have zero clue, and do not want to know, how someone with CF’s body would react. I’m a teacher as well. I have a rare genetic disorder that makes me immunocompromised. I was working as a certified long term substitute, so I could work on my M.Edu. We’re now living on one teachers salary. We’ve been in isolation since March 13th with two tweens daughters. It’s not fun, no one likes it, but it’s what we have to do to keep everyone healthy.
People have good reason to be concerned about getting coronavirus. There is so much we do not understand about it. The extreme variability in the severity of the virus is causing even younger, seemingly healthy adults to be worried.
Mayor Holt is trying to do what he believes is the best for his city. Dr. Fauci is offering his best opinion as a epidemiologist, physician and public health official. Both men are showing grace under fire. This virus is not political, and decisions about it should be based on science, not politics.
Decisions should be made by science and not politicians. However…
SAT, APR 11TH, 2020 BY SEAN COLAROSSI
Trump Thinks Laura Ingraham Is A More Credible Medical Expert Than Dr. Anthony Fauci
Fox News spent weeks downplaying the coronavirus outbreak, even suggesting that the virus is a hoax and boasting that nobody in the U.S. has died from the disease. It’s the reason why the network is now facing lawsuits.
But even though Fox’s coverage has been dangerous, that hasn’t stopped Trump from essentially making the network a central part of his medical response team.
Fox News has been bad for America since well before Donald Trump made it to the White House. But with this president now letting the network shape his health policy, they are more dangerous than ever.
https://www.politicususa.com/2020/04/11/trump-thinks-laura-ingraham-is-a-more-credible-medical-expert-than-dr-anthony-fauci.html
“Across the nation, some are responding to President Trump’s incitements, even bringing automatic weapons into the Michigan capitol….”
I’m not defending guns of any type in any government building (or any place really – when I rule the world, even wars will be fought with swords and bows and arrows), but accuracy demands a correction of that sentence. None of the weapons brought into the capitol were automatic. Semi-automatic, yes, but that’s a significant difference. An automatic weapon fires continuously so long as the trigger is held down until the weapon runs out of ammunition. Such weapons are rarely found outside battlefields. Semi-automatic weapons re-load automatically until ammunition runs out, but the trigger must be pulled individually for each shot. Semi-automatic weapons are certainly capable of a lot of damage, but they do not have the rapid-fire capability of automatic weapons like machine guns.
Just wanted to quickly state how much I applaud Mayor Holts leadership, determination, initiative, and all he has done. During this pandemic our leaders at home and across our nation have shown their true colors. Holts true colors are bold, daring, while maintaining warmth. I maybe a bleeding heart liberal, but I would certainly vote for Holt were he to run for a much higher office.
Just wanted to quickly state how much I applaud Mayor Holts leadership, determination, initiative, and all he has done. During this pandemic our leaders at home and across our nation have shown their true colors. Holts true colors are bold, daring, while maintaining warmth. I maybe a bleeding heart liberal, but I would certainly vote for Holt were he to run for a much higher office.
Therefore, the basis of the stasis, rests on the conjecture of the lecture, where
guidance is not of certainties or hard proof, but of the persuasion of possibilities.
The expertise, founded on wordpertise, functions as a teacher feature, where
effectiveness is related to the willingness of the plebeian to assume the “student”
position, the demeanor of prostrate obedience.
The proof is in the pudding…
Good job!
If this quote is true, Trump is mentally deranged. There is nothing beautiful about medical workers getting sick and dying.
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During a visit to a medical equipment distribution facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Trump said this about healthcare workers:
“They’re running into death just like soldiers running into bullets…it’s an incredible thing to see. It’s a beautiful thing to see.”