I think it's terrible to go through life assuming that you can't or shouldn't think critically about or attempt to understand topics if you don't possess a degree in that particular subject or that you have to blindly accept what another says because of their degrees. A large percentage of us aren't even employed in the area of our degrees anyway. Does that mean we can't be effective in another area of expertise?
It's not like all of the medical doctors, scientists, public policy experts, etc. have reached consensus on a novel virus or our response to the virus either. Many of the experts have themselves flip flopped on the most basic assertions about our response as more information and experience comes out. Also, the public response to the virus requires the intersection of many areas of expertise. A medical doctor may not be privy to or up on all of the most current science. The scientists publishing papers may not understand the various public impacts of a policy. The policy maker may not know the inner workings of a particular business or school. This is why task forces are put together to solve complex inter-disciplinary problems. Everyone on the task force is not required to be an expert in every discipline. What degree is required to effectively synthesize the various expert contributions from a number of different fields? The answer is that the degree is irrelevant but the ability to think critically and logically is absolutely necessary.
And anyone with quantitative ability can look at CDC data and draw fairly reasonable conclusions. It's not rocket science to analyze data. Just think critically. You don't need someone to tell you everything that you are supposed to think. You are supposed to actually think and that requires both effort and being confident enough to learn.
