The number of COVID-19 cases continues to drop across the country. The CDC reports almost 166-million people have at least been partially vaccinated. However, even as our businesses and places of leisure open back up, many Americans are still living in fear of virus.
In a sense we're dealing with two pandemics, according to Fox News Medical Correspondent Doctor Marc Siegel. One is COVID-19 itself. That pandemic is on its way out, thanks to vaccines. The other is the widespread fear and anxiety as a result of shutting down our society. Siegel says the second pandemic is more dangerous.
“What about the damage being done to our society? The increase in drug abuse, the increase in alcoholism, problems with socialization in kids, issues of depression, delayed medical procedures, people afraid to go out of their houses,” he said.
Siegel denounces politicians, for example, who have exaggerated the concern of going without a face mask.
“The over personalization of the risk and the fear are very, very unhealthy,” he explained. “I’d afraid of lockdowns. I’d be afraid of long school closures. I’d be afraid of where this virus actually came from. Those are the things worthy of fear.”
Siegel says we can't let politicians or the media stoke fear in us as we return to our normal way of life.