SALT LAKE CITY — In early November, two people from Inner Mongolia, a region of northern China, were diagnosed with the plague. Authorities issued public warnings and the two were quickly treated.
The New York Times reported the news from its Beijing bureau and the story ran deep inside its print editions on the same day that live coverage of the President Donald Trump impeachment hearings were entering their fifth day of wall-to-wall coverage.
As the Times wrote: “Fears are mounting in China over a possible outbreak of the disease, once known as the Black Death, which killed tens of millions of people in medieval Europe, and spread through Asia and Africa.“
The two cases were of pneumonic plague, one of three types of infectious disease that also includes the fear-inducing bubonic plague. News of that disease arrived last week. That’s when a 55-year old man from the same region of Inner Mongolia killed a wild rabbit and had it for dinner. He began to feel poorly, contracting a serious fever. That brought the diagnosis.
Should the world be worried?
Not really. All strains of the plague are fatal if left untreated. But thankfully, a fairly routine two-week regimen of antibiotics will cure the illness. Quick action and quarantine of those infected can keep this story on the back pages of newspapers. But there is significant risk if the threats from the disease are ignored, particularly in developing countries.
Medical News Today reports that from 2010 to 2015 there were 3,248 cases of the plague worldwide, resulting in 584 deaths. Each death is tragic. But consider that 59,000 people die from rabies each year, and 130 people die from an opioid overdose each day in the U.S. alone. What was once a crisis of epic proportions started by a tiny bacterium is now controlled by equally small antibiotics, because we understand the cause and the cure.
It’s interesting to consider what is necessary to prevent seemingly small incidents from becoming catastrophic. Can the world of medicine teach us anything about the world of politics, the economy or public safety?
Inside the newsroom we discuss problems and solutions. We understand the House impeachment vote next moves to a Senate trial of President Trump. With Republicans holding the majority in the Senate the expectation is that the president will survive the trial and continue in office, campaigning for a second term. We understand what is happening and our reporters are providing information to help you put it into perspective.
What does it all mean? This is the hard part. This is only the third time a president has been impeached. But we do not yet know if this is a bacteria, a virus or a cure.
Will it lead to a plague of impeachment hearings with each administration, regardless of perceived offenses or policies? Will it serve as an antidote to presidential abuse of power, whether it is real or imagined? At the Deseret News our effort is to try to find consistent principles to apply, which is why our news coverage is accompanied by the work of Opinion Editor Boyd Matheson and his team’s effort to “push to principle” on our editorial pages. This phrase means we are looking to judge events based on true, time-honored principles.
For example: The current national debt is more than $22 trillion. The time-honored principle is stay out of debt; live within your means. We continue to point out the potential catastrophic events that could follow if the country refuses to get its financial house in order.
The opioid epidemic is nonpartisan. It is hurting families of every type, every race, of every economic standing. Can the national response to both the debt and the opioid crisis express the same urgency that accompanied the original appearance of the bubonic plague?
Consider these words from Matheson in a column he wrote on the debt: “The most common complaint voiced about members of Congress is that there is just too much conflict in our nation’s capital. It is an easy conclusion to come to if you are simply following the news through the lens of your social media feed. Partisan bickering and the toxic talk from pundits on both side of the political spectrum provide a steady stream of hyperbole.”
He then offered this telling observation: “You simply cannot get $20 trillion in debt through conflict. It is absolutely impossible. The only way to get $20 trillion in debt is through collusion.”
The column was published more than two years ago, on May 2, 2017. The deficit is now $2 trillion more. We still write about conflicts between politicians, and the partisan impeachment hearings are evidence of that. But the reality is both parties, and the people they represent, decide what is important and what is worth working on.
Earlier this year shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, rocked the nation. On Aug. 5, the Deseret News opinion team gave a 21-day challenge to Congress to come together and pass legislation that both Democrats and Republicans said they already agree on: background checks.
Lawmakers we talked to expressed frustration that the House and Senate leadership would not call Congress back into session from their summer break to lead the country toward a solution to gun violence. Nevertheless, I remain optimistic that continuing to work from principle is the best way to find solutions.
If two weeks worth of antibiotics can stop the plague, who knows what else might be accomplished. It’s not too late to find the cure to what ails us.