With COVID-19 we have had the opportunity to gather and utilize data from a variety of sources to help us understand and fight the “invisible enemy”. In the United States, each jurisdiction has used different approaches to capturing and reporting relevant case statistics to its citizens. Unfortunately, often the data has not been communicated or made available in a widespread or transparent way.

Despite the shortcomings in the availability of detailed information, there are thousands of people who use and interact with the COVID data on daily basis. Policies have also been implemented based on derivatives of these numbers – such as testing positivity rates. The national media has focused on the top-line big numbers – which raise concern over the severity of the problem, but do little to highlight any underlying opportunities. However, there are solutions waiting to be found within the mountains of case data. We, as a society, should be mining the data to discover means to fight the disease. We don’t need to be held at the mercy of the unknown, unnecessarily. So, what can we learn? The existing data tells us:

• Children rarely have severe cases of COVID.
• Older populations are particularly vulnerable
• COVID is seasonal. It comes in waves.
• Risk mitigation through mask wearing is extremely difficult
• Contact tracing is ineffective at scale
• Simple preventive measures such as sustained Vitamin D levels, exposure to sunlight, and proper ventilation help
• There are inexpensive treatments options to prevent and mitigate COVID symptoms – some proprietary treatments are not as effective
• The overall case fatality rate is approximately 1% (99% of people who get COVID, survive)
• Re-infection rates are near zero – indicating post infection immunity
• Most COVID fatalities also involve other serious illnesses.
• The vaccines are effective *The mRNA shots offer varying degrees of protection and also have downstream impacts which are being studied.
• Based on age and other factors, we can pinpoint individuals at highest risk for severe illness and death – and target efforts to protect them

With all this information at our disposal, are we utilizing the available data to help us make informed decisions about our lives and livelihoods? It seems few medical and political leaders are actually utilizing or analyzing the data, despite “following the science”. Why haven’t we adopted policy decisions using the bedrock of information? Why haven’t we made good data a priority? Is there a reason we should ignore it?

If we look at the COVID “risk mitigation” decisions implemented by our leadership, it seems many actions also serve to shape our society for larger changes – including those needed to fight Climate Change.

However, there is one crucial difference between policy actions for COVID-19 and Climate Change. Despite the obfuscation of COVID-19 data, there is enough tangible information to enable society to call into question ineffective and unnecessary restrictions. Today, many citizens are “waking up” to the reality of COVID controls. We don’t all need to fear and hide from everything and each other. Even with the pervasive media fearmongering, many people now realize the COVID “crisis” is manageable through an informed public response.

Unfortunately, with many Climate Change proposals, entire generations could be subjected to top-down lockdown-esque restrictions without recourse. Nature’s clock turns slowly and it would be decades before any actualized results to validate policy actions could materialize. So, in the absence of any verifiable data to refute ill advised and/or harmful policy directives based on a Climate “Crisis”, we would be beholden to the directives of an elite “informed” minority. The bifurcated society of the “information haves and have nots” would likely lead to withering destruction of the very values which have made us so strong. We need to achieve a cleaner, greener world through prosperity and transparency, not austerity and controls. Identifying, measuring, and following key data points will help guide us to achieve our targeted milestones on the best green path forward.