Science and policy are only weakly related. Especially when it comes to things like acting out of caution (assuming the worst given scientific knowledge) and how to weigh personal freedoms and so on.
The discussion of the science of childrens psychological health for example was curiously absent in countries that argued that science demanded swift lockdowns. Is a life-year in lockdown for a school aged child as “lost” as a year shorter lifespan for an elderly person? Or less? Or more?
These are ethical and political questions more than they are scientific.
These ethical problems and differences in how they are handled are present even absent a pandemic. Who’s given intensive care over a certain age for example is likely very different in the US and Sweden. That’s not because the medical facts differ or doctors in either end act on bad science or in bad faith. Medicine isn’t just science, it’s ethics, politics, economics too.
The discussion of the science of childrens psychological health for example was curiously absent in countries that argued that science demanded swift lockdowns. Is a life-year in lockdown for a school aged child as “lost” as a year shorter lifespan for an elderly person? Or less? Or more?
These are ethical and political questions more than they are scientific.
These ethical problems and differences in how they are handled are present even absent a pandemic. Who’s given intensive care over a certain age for example is likely very different in the US and Sweden. That’s not because the medical facts differ or doctors in either end act on bad science or in bad faith. Medicine isn’t just science, it’s ethics, politics, economics too.