![]() ![]() Individuals tend to feel less responsibleabout actions that in which they cannot easily be identified when transgressions are supported by a group. We know from decades of research in social psychology that anonymity and group size play an important role in noncompliance. The real problem is that continued noncompliance eventually will degrade any benefit associated with these practices, causing a spike in the reinfection rate disastrous for our healthcare system and economy. That some members of the nation benefit unfairly is only part of the problem. Refusal brings about circumstances in which a subset of citizens enjoys the benefits of communal safety practices without respecting them. In the present context,the problem can be formulated in the following way: As a nation, all citizens benefit from general compliance with social distancing and other public health practices, yet there are large swaths of the country in which citizens refuse to follow these practices. A more useful approach is to consider the free-rider problem, a theoryabout human behavior prominent in the social sciences. Is one to conclude that people are uniformed, unable to distinguish truth from fantasy, or simply incapable of critical thinking? I think not. While the administration’s distortion of the truth speaks for itself, the deeper question for mental health professionals is why misinformation is seriously entertained. The math is simple: if social distancing/facemaskwearing has lowered but not eradicated the virus, the rate of infection will only rise when these practices are relaxed, even if widespread testing and contact tracing were adequate, which it is not. Who will speak for the unfortunatethousands of individuals sacrificed in Paul’s calculus? Each will pay with 100 percent of what is most precious to them. No less a figure than Rand Paul tweets that, since “below 25 years old the fatality rate of Covid-19 is 0.00008 percent,” we should reopen our schools, summer camps and virtually all other endeavors engaged in by this age group. The President falsely contrasts “opening up” the economy with any demonstrable respect forthe safety of U.S. Whether it is public health experts advocating the use of face masks or social distancing, leading government officials advocate just the opposite. It seems as if every day brings with it a new assault on truth.
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