Scuttlebutt. Masks.
It seems that the epidemic part of the corona virus outbreak is about over- at least in the minds of many. Certainly in most places we have reached the point where something like 80% of the population has either been vaccinated or had the virus and have antibodies. This is where we were told last year that we would be at herd immunity. Unfortunately “herds” don't get sick- individuals do, so there will still be people dying of coronavirus or suffering long Covid, but at numbers small enough that most of the population doesn't seem to care. That number, as of this writing, is still 2000 people a day dying. Curiously, at the beginning of Covid when 1000 people were dying each day we thought of it as foreboding disaster, but now 2000 a day is basically ho-hum. Folks are sick of the restrictions that have been placed on us and are ready to move on. While we have spent twenty years bemoaning 3000 dead (not all Americans) from the 911 attacks, apparently nearly a million dead Americans from Covid can be shrugged off.
I recently took a trip to the Angel's Camp/Sonora area and I can tell you that those folks are done with the precautions. Restaurants are packed with people hugging and kissing greetings, and there wasn't a mask in sight. In fact, at one restaurant I observed a few people entering with a mask, only to quickly snatch it off when they saw no one in the building wearing a mask- including wait staff. These folks, like us, were probably from out of town.
It seems that the general consensus around the world is that those who want to be vaccinated can be (in rich countries) and those who don't are willing to take their chances.
The part I don't get is what is the big deal about vaccination? How did vaccines suddenly become the most contentious issue in American politics? The Canadian trucker freak-out is over getting a vaccine, even though 90% of the truckers are vaccinated. I guess global climate change, income inequality, and loss of democracy are too esoteric for the anti-vaxxers to bother getting excited about. Where's the truck convoy for those issues?
As far as I am concerned all the reasons for not being vaccinated are nonsense, except one, which the libertarian in me is willing to accept and that is “I'm willing to take my chances and you have no right to stop me.” This concept assumes that “if you are afraid of catching covid from me, then get vaccinated.” All these other pseudo-scientific reasons are goofy. People who struggled in high school biology class spend some time on the internet and now they know more than people who have devoted their lives and careers to studying virus transmission. Come on folks, just admit you don't FEEL like it. That is an excuse I can understand. Even many who have received vaccinations through their lives, somehow have convinced themselves that this vaccine is some kind of a trick to make pharmaceutical companies richer, or Bill Gates to control our minds or some other flimsy excuse to justify their feelings. A psychologist recently wrote that people use their feelings to make decisions, then engage their rational minds to come up with reasons to justify their view. Covid couldn't be a better illustration of this idea.
As of 2/2/22, federal data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 75.3% of the total population in the United States have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. So about one-quarter of the population isn't interested in being vaccinated (minus those who have no access for some reason). I read a ton of statistics about who is vaccinated and who isn't. Unvaccinated respondents were more likely to have lower education levels (46% attended only high school or less) and lower income levels (42% earn less than $40,000 per year) than their vaccinated counterparts, who are nearly twice as likely to have earned a college degree or more. But that is not it. I know highly educated people whom I respect that are not vaxxed and some who I consider to be near morons who a very enthusiastic about the vaccine. It obviously is not an intellectual decision.
Yes, the Trumpier parts of the country are less likely to be vaccinated, but not to a degree that that explains vaccine hesitancy. Millennials also tend to shun vaccines more that older people, but that is easily explained by the fact that young people generally feel fairly bulletproof stemming from their youthful vigor. I know I did. When I was in my twenties I was a clean living vegetarian who was active, did some yoga and pretty much assumed I would live to 100.
What emerges for me is that it is not about any demographic factor or set of facts, but simply what one feels and feelings are determined by all the thoughts and experiences of our past. This is something you just can't quantify.
There has to be some point at which our governments take a step back and let nature take it's course. That time is beginning already and most of us are OK with that. There is one statistic that I'm sure of (even though I made it up): Everyone is tired of this illness and wishes to return to “normal”- whatever that is.
Covid will leave many stains on society, but none worse than the revelation that a good portion of our population prefers to ignore science if it doesn't feel right. Global warming anyone?
Image by Astrid Zellmann from Pixabay
