Lostspark > I do not have enough time to do research on every decision I make that’s why I’m supposed to trust professionals. Professionals have taken advantage of that trust enough times that the unwashed working and uneducated masses are becoming wise to it.
Lostspark, I am with you on that. I see 2 separate questions here: specific trust on covid, especially during early lack of information, and general trust of authorities.
On first one, I know some Rabbis who found a reliable frum public helath professional and listened and referred questions to him. For me, R Meyer Twersky’s letter sounded right – in the time of confusion, it is not enough to follow one doctor, but you need to select a safest of several opinions.
generally, I think, the problem of, especially American, medicine, is a rule-based approach. You give a pill or cut something off and the problem is solved. Nedorim ~50 bring up a doctor who refuses to treat a patient who is eating a bad diet for a sick person – a hard squash. So, you would often need to combine seichel with medical advise. For example, I was told by an observant allergologist that certain test should not be done – it will produce a long list of products to avoid without serious benefit.
At the same time, modern medicine produced undeniable benefits and the testing procedures in US are working. Many researchers complain that they are too slow and expensive delaying treatments.
So, you need to look at the data case-by-case, you can’t make overall judgment.