So many Americans didn't listen to the warnings. They didn't follow the simple rules and suggestions and they didn't get vaccinated. And now, after a few weeks of thinking there was a clear vision of a horizon and not just a light at the end of the tunnel, we are back in the dark. Cases are rising again and the unvaccinated are filling hospitals in several states. We are back to seeing tired medical professionals pleading for people to take the virus and its new variants seriously and stories of people saying good-bye to loved ones as they struggle for enough breath to express their regrets for not listening. And of course we are now back to wearing a mask. For me, I never really stopped wearing one but didn't all the time. But now there is one always on my desk at work, in my car and several hanging near my keys. They are part of a regular routine and frankly I am back to forgetting I have it on. But with masks comes the amateur epidemiologists with their quips about masks. My favorite is that the virus is so small that a cloth mask is as much of defense to it as a chain link fence is to a mosquito. But here is the thing. While it is true that a cloth mask has a weave that would allow singular virus particles to come through, they would be unlikely to survive for long, be taken into the respiratory system of another, nor survive the trip into someone's body to attack the cells needed to duplicate. And frankly an exhaled virus particle would have to be pretty damn lucky to make it through one face mask, float through the air, land on someone else's face mask, make it through that and take root in the system of that person. What the mask does stop is the variety of fluids we exhale when we talk, breath, sigh, sneeze, cough or burp. Each carrying thousands if not millions of those virus particles that are more likely to remain atomized and inhaled carrying a lot more virus to survive the first lines of defense in our system. The mask holds them in place. Going back to the chain link analogy, the virus is less like a mosquito, which will fly around to find a suitable host to bite, it is more like a tick that is opportunistic. The chain link fence will not stop an individual tick, but will stop a deer, rabbit, fox or neighbors dog who is carrying hundreds of ticks that could be deposited in your yard ready for your animal or you to collect it as you go out. Stopping the spreading of large amounts of virus or ticks makes it less likely to contract them. It really is simple.
But in this day and age simple facts like this are lost on the those who follow politicians who spew nonsense for political gain. Members of the Republican party in leadership positions are not only not mandating or even suggesting masking as a way to try to quell the massive spreading of the new variants, but are making it illegal (or attempting to) for communities and businesses to impose masking. They are also downplaying vaccines with the help of their right wing noise machine amplifiers, all of whom have been vaccinated. They seem to be attempting to fund raise off of the people of this country who refuse to believe the reality of pandemic because it is too big for them to think it just happens like this. Even today people think it is overblown, still use the word PLANdemic and suggest nonsense about how they are safe because of their immune system. It appears certain members of the right wing want their vote, their money and their eyes and ears on their shows more than they want reality and science to help us get through this tragedy. In recent weeks we have heard stories of some of the people the GOP is exploiting who caught Covid and from their hospital and even death beds explain they were wrong. Trying to maybe see the errors of their ways and help others who fell for the carnival barkers of death. Yet even today, as some states are reaching capacity in hospitals again, their governors are punishing school systems and employers for trying to mitigate the spread of Covid.
Listen, for many of us the last 18 months have been a nightmare, we want it to be over. I know I want to sit in a crowded bar and listen to music and dance with my wife and look like a fool. I want to go to the theater or see a movie with full Dolby sound on a IMAX screen. I want to hug my friends. I want to travel and feel safe. I want to be free. But we won't wish it away and the solution is simple. Get the vaccine, wear a mask in places the virus is rampant, remember to stay distant and to protect children and others who can't get the vaccine. And listen to the experts, directly. Not the spin of a news industry who gutted their science teams to the point they mix up Hydrogen and Helium in a story. Not the politicians who, trust me, do not have your best interests top of mind, not radio hosts who look for anything to make the other political party look bad while ignoring their own party short-falls, or celebrities, sports figures or your Uncle who sends you those grainy pictures with the subject line WE FOUND BIGFOOT (yes all in caps). You didn't Uncle Bob that is a fir tree.
We as a nation and a world can do this. We can defeat this disease or at least make it less of a killer. I know this because I am typing this on a device small enough to fit in my briefcase yet more powerful than the devices used to send people to the moon (yes Uncle Bob we did send people to the moon). I know this because there are thousands of people around the world who have dedicated their lives to not simply responding when a virus like this shows up but trying to predict how it might and create the proper mitigation. I know this because humanity survives. So mask up again, think of it as another way to show your brand, get vaccinated if you haven't. Get the booster if it seems necessary. Pressure those in power to respond based on science and not politics. And vote, every time you can, for those who will put you above their own personal interests. You are worthy of that.
