Stay safe, people. Remember: your body is a human one and despite what you might hear about “low levels of hospitalisation” and all the rest, you have absolutely no idea how you, in particular, might respond to the virus. You also have no idea at all what the long-term effects of even a “mild” case might be. And you have no idea who is a vector for infection or not – people are testing negative in the morning and positive in the evening.
Stop looking for individuals to blame. It’s not only the unvaccinated who are infecting the vaccinated – this kind of story reminds me of the AIDS years when people would blame individuals they had had sex with (resulting in several cases of mass hysteria around specific people, our beloved Gaëtan Dugas being among the first). When, in fact, there were other factors or other people involved.
I don’t like easy parallels between AIDS and COVID — one requires very direct human contact, the other does not and is therefore far more contagious, for one thing. But I’m struck by the ways in which we are now similarly placing blame on individuals or groups and how all that allows us to forget that it’s the systems that are causing an uptick in infections, not people. In the case of COVID, you could just as well be infected by your vaccinated and boosted friend whom you hung out with in close contact, the person who tested negative that very morning.
All our systems are broken — tests are scarce, hospitals are strained to the point of being useless for many, treatments are not widely discussed, and frontline workers — including teachers and bus drivers — are being forced back to work even when they shouldn’t, and in dangerous conditions. I just ran into a delivery person who said she was being compelled to deliver packages to people’s apartments even when they had a place where they could collect their mail. As she put it to me, “Why would they do that? They have no idea about my status, and I have no idea about theirs.”
Fauci and the CDC have made it clear that the vast majority of people are disposable and they care more about the economy than lives. Consider that everything we’ve been told from the start of this pandemic has been based not on science but on what was most convenient for those who need the economy to function, whether it’s advice on masking or on how long to stay isolated. Over and over, we’re told to put our lives and long-term health at risk because “the data” (which changes at the convenience of the state) says we can and should.
Ask yourself: Are you data? Or are you a human, with a body that is completely unpredictable in terms of how it might respond to the virus? There will be other New Year’s Eves to come, and the only way to ensure that is to remember that you are not data but a living, breathing person.
Stay safe. Happy New Year.
Don’t plagiarise any of this, in any way. I have used legal resources to punish and prevent plagiarism, and I am ruthless and persistent. I make a point of citing people and publications all the time: it’s not that hard to mention me in your work, and to refuse to do so and simply assimilate my work is plagiarism. You don’t have to agree with me to cite me properly; be an ethical grownup, and don’t make excuses for your plagiarism. Read and memorise “On Plagiarism.” There’s more forthcoming, as I point out in “The Plagiarism Papers.” If you’d like to support me, please donate and/or subscribe, or get me something from my wish list. Thank you.
Image: The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, Rembrandt, 1632