Even horrible events sometimes bring good things.
COVID-19 killed at least 3 million people worldwide, reported the World Health Organization. I contracted it myself three times. The first was quite bad, the others like a medium cold. A friend ended up in the ICU for a week.
Yet here are four good developments to come from the coronavirus pandemic.Our American system of liberties was tested, and held firm.
In Jan. 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out President Biden’s mandate for 84 million American workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The court ruled on technical grounds the Occupational Safety and Health Administration exceeded the authority given it by Congress.
I should point out that, although I didn’t get the COVID vax because I thought it was developed too quickly, I am not an “anti-vaxxer,” and in recent years have been jabbed for shingles, pneumonia, the flu and Hepatitis-B.
But I have Canadian friends who were forced to get the COVID vax to keep their jobs. That’s no freedom. For Americans, COVID was a freedom test we passed.
2. Telehealth reforms advanced. Formerly called telemedicine, the federal government’s own website, telehealth.hhs.gov, lists some of the post-COVID changes, such as, “There are no geographic restrictions for originating site for behavioral/mental telehealth services.”
In California, on April 3, 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-43-20, which relaxed regulations on “the use of telehealth services to engage in the provision of medical, surgical, or other health care services,” as well as for mental health.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last. In January this year, the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation released its 3rd Annual State Policy Agenda of Telehealth Innovation. California scored “improvements needed” in most areas. The best area was allowing “telehealth by any mode”; the worst was maintaining barriers to telehealth across state lines.
Co-author Vittorio Nastasi told me, “In 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1369, allowing cross-state telehealth services under very limited circumstances. This was a good step, but other states like Florida have gone much further.”
3. The economy survived a strong shock. Four years ago, federal and state policies shut down almost the entire U.S. economy, with most of the world following. The price of a barrel of oil fell below $0. On April 14, 2020 the International Monetary Fund branded it the “worst economic downturn since the Great Depression” of the 1930s. It warned, “April World Economic Outlook projects global growth in 2020 to fall to -3 percent.” President Trump and Congress spent $4 trillion on keeping the economy afloat – all of it borrowed money we’re still paying for.
But as soon as the shutdowns lifted, the economy came roaring back. Why? As horrible as COVID was, it wasn’t the Black Death of 1346-1353, which killed one-third to two-thirds of Europeans, depending on locality.
U.S. taxes remained relatively low. No vast new regulations were imposed. Industries weren’t socialized on the Soviet model. Although Trump got some new tariffs passed before the pandemic hit, they weren’t very high. America’s capitalist system quickly adapted to the new realities. That’s what markets do. It was another stress test America passed fairly well.
4. School choice advanced. Libertarians like me writing on education have long criticized the dumbing down and radicalization of public-school curriculums caused by the power teachers’ unions. With their kids at home taking classes online, many parents were shocked at what they saw.
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Last May a Reason summary of research found, “The COVID-19 national emergency might be over, but parents’ desire to continue homeschooling is holding strong.” From 2019 to May 2023, the number of students homeschooled almost doubled from 2.8% to 5.4% by May 2023.
School choice also thrived. Future Ed recently tallied just four new private-school scholarship programs among the states in 2018-20, but 20 from 2021-23. None was in California. Yet here, too, parents want choice, not teacher-union dictates.
In sum, COVID was a terrible time. But we Americans made the best of it. It’s too bad California, supposedly the center of global innovation, continues to lag in many areas.
John Seiler is on the SCNG Editorial Board and blogs at johnseiler.substack.com