Democratic Party politicians and the mainstream news media say that The Science is (and should be) telling our leaders how to respond the the Covid crisis. That sounds good, but just how does this work ? What is The Science?

IMHO an acceptable definition of Science is systematized knowledge derived from observation, study, and experimentation carried on in order to determine the nature or principles of what is being studied. (Source - https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/science This source also provides an Archiac (eg. relatively common in earlier times but infrequently used in present-day English) definition: the state or fact of knowledge; knowledge.

There is a huge difference between the first definition and the the second (archaic): The. This may seem pedantic but the difference is truly huge. The word The used with the word Science makes it an absolute. In the modern sense Science is not absolute. Lets go back a few centuries.

In the late 1400's The Science told us that the Earth was the center of the universe. This was an absolute truth, accepted by most scientists and leaned people of Europe. It was knowledge. But it was incorrect. The entire modern scientific revolution was lead by Copernicus and later Galileo and was built around a systematic path of observation, study and experimentation by people who we think of a scientists.

All scientific knowlege is built from the opinions and writings of people who are considered scientists. Even if every "Scientist" believes something to be true. It may not be. Scientific knowledge is just a compendium of opinions.

The Science did not tell Governor Newsom of California that the best way to prevent the spread of Covid-19 was to force everyone to wear face masks and to limit indoor dining. His advisors , people who he thought of as scientsts, and his gut instinct told him to do so. Similarily Florida Governor DeSantis did not order face masks nor limit indoor dining because his advisors, people who he thought of as scientsts, and his gut instinct told him otherwise. .

It is interesting to compare there results after one year. California has experienced 86 cases of Covid-19 per thousand residents. In Florida it is 83. In terms of deaths California has had 1.2 deaths per thousand residents. In Florida it is 1.3. With huge differences in the methods used to fight the pandemic the differences in the results have been insignificant.

Partly as a result of the path taken by these governors the unemployment rate is California is 9% where in Florida it is 6.1%. No wonder there is a recall effort against Governor Newsom.

As an aside, many people and politicians believe that The Science is telling us that we need to cut our nation's carbon emissions to zero in order to slow Global Warming.