It's not just pride, though, it's an actual public health cost/benefit calculation.
Yes, admitting the mistake promptly would have saved some lives through improved prevention behavior among the people who cared to try to follow prevention guidelines.
But it would also have caused other people to be even more distrusting of public health guidance in general, both as a genuine reaction among that population and also because it would invite certain sociopolitical forces to pounce on the opportunity to scream "see?!? they were wrong this one time!! never listen to them again, only ever listen to me, yaaah tyranny blah blah!!"
So do you focus on saving more lives in the short term for this one situation, or do you focus on not accidentally reducing public trust in science in general so that you can save more lives next time, and the time after that, and so on? It's not such a clear choice.
taleden t1_irn02jk wrote
Reply to comment by eddiepaperhands in What is the current consensus on coronavirus transmission through fomites? Can I stop pressing elevator buttons with my keys? by PolytheneMan
It's not just pride, though, it's an actual public health cost/benefit calculation.
Yes, admitting the mistake promptly would have saved some lives through improved prevention behavior among the people who cared to try to follow prevention guidelines.
But it would also have caused other people to be even more distrusting of public health guidance in general, both as a genuine reaction among that population and also because it would invite certain sociopolitical forces to pounce on the opportunity to scream "see?!? they were wrong this one time!! never listen to them again, only ever listen to me, yaaah tyranny blah blah!!"
So do you focus on saving more lives in the short term for this one situation, or do you focus on not accidentally reducing public trust in science in general so that you can save more lives next time, and the time after that, and so on? It's not such a clear choice.