Scientists and Experts Know Things: We Should Listen to Them

Anti-intellectualism delays action on emergencies from pandemics to climate change.

On the final day of 2019, China first reported cases of the COVID-19 virus. As the crisis grew in Wuhan, the World Health Organization started to warn people with increasing urgency. It started with advice on hand washing and coughing into your elbow. But by mid-February the WHO was talking about the need to “maintain social distancing.” (see Feb. 13 version of the site).

The experts in pandemics — epidemiologists, infectious diseases doctors, and ministers of health — were sounding the alarm many weeks ago. They told us that exponentially growing infections could overwhelm a health care system much faster than we realize. And yet many countries, including the U.S., were caught flat-footed. Thank goodness some of the most recent countries to get infected have gone to extreme measures faster — Hungary closed universities when it only had 13 known cases.

Every day of delayed action greatly increases the risk of the virus getting beyond our control. But we seem to have a problem in some countries and cultures with listening to what experts are telling us. Some leaders feel a need to demonstrate that they are in control and know everything. The US president has declared that he knows more than anyone about…