Back Off with the COVID-19 Speculation [OPINION]

With the cable news networks blaring out bad news 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there is bound to be lots of speculation about what could happen with the COVID-19 coronavirus in the future. And there is.

Everyone is an expert on the subject. The sheer volume of experts fills the hours on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and all of the other harbingers of gloom and doom on the dial and across the internet bandwidth 'round the clock, day in and day out.

The only problem with these so-called experts is they really don't know what's going to happen. But it doesn't stop them from speculating about it anyway.

The experts warned us that 2.2 million people would die from COVID-19 in the United States alone and that our healthcare system would collapse under the weight of the demand. Those predictions led to people in need of medical care for other reasons to be denied and hospital staff not assigned to COVID units to be furloughed.

The experts and their faulty predictions, graphs, and curves also led to schools being closed, people being locked indoors and the greatest economy in human history destroyed before our eyes.

Just as things are beginning to reopen and the number of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are on the downswing, here come the experts again with new dire warnings of unparalleled death and destruction. We are definitely in for it this time. Watch out for the second wave.

The toughest thing for the experts to do is admit that they don't know what is going to happen next. This is a novel virus. We've never seen this act before. That is the most honest approach. But they can't do it. They won't do it.

And so, until this thing finally runs its course and murder hornets begin to occupy our time, be prepared for an endless stream of experts who just can't resist the urge to pretend they know what's going to happen.

Barry Richard is the host of The Barry Richard Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. Contact him at barry@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @BarryJRichard58. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.