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When the coronavirus first hit, and the lockdowns were rolled out, I like many people, agreed to the lockdowns. The uncertainties that surrounded the mysterious virus emanating from Wuhan, China, were numerous. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, there were things that we knew that we knew, things we knew we didn’t know, and things that we didn’t know that we didn’t know.
There was so much uncertainty and mystery surrounding the spread of this virus, and many of our health institutions had made what, in hindsight, turned out to be incorrect statements, about how the virus transmits. For example, the World Health Organization tweeted
We came to find out that this wasn’t the case, and that the virus spread on droplets, aerosolized when people sneezed, coughed, shouted, sang, or breathed. The virus spread rapidly across the world, overwhelming hospitals in Europe, and sparking a lot of fear in the US. The Trump administration implemented a travel ban for people coming from China, and was called Xenophobic by now President Biden. Nancy Pelosi did a photo op in Chinatown, encouraging people to come down. She expressed that they have taken precautions and that we shouldn’t fear the virus.
Dr. Fauci, the top infectious disease expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, advised people in an interview with USA Today on February 17th, 2020, to not wear masks unless they are showing symptoms, “Whenever you have the threat of a transmissible infection, there are varying degrees from understandable to outlandish extrapolations of fear,” Fauci said. Looking back at this quote now, it is interesting to see what turned out to be ominous foreshadowing. In regards to masks, he said, “The masks sold at drugstores aren’t even good enough to truly protect anyone,” and , “Now, in the United States, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to wear a mask.” He went on to call the danger of coronavirus “miniscule,” and to treat it like an influenza outbreak, which the article went on to explain how the seasonal flu was the bigger threat.
That turned out to be an intentional lie, a deliberate effort to downplay the risk of COVID-19 in order to protect the small supply of personal protective equipment, and reserve it for healthcare workers. Business Insider reported July 16, 2020 that Fauci defended this position since the coronavirus taskforce had presented evidence that asymptomatic spread, and shifted his position without explanation or apology.
This quickly spreading virus prompted all sorts of government action, at the local, state, and federal levels. AJMC, the American Journal of Managed Care, documents the timeline of events here. February 2nd, the Travel ban from China is Enacted, followed by a declaration of a Public Health Emergency on the 3rd. The Diamond Princess cruise ship was quarantined in San Francisco on March 6th, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11th, travel was banned to Europe on March 13th, and so on…
Then came the lockdowns. My home state of California issued their stay at home order on March 19th, following the lead of San Francisco. We were told “15 days to slow the spread.” Considering how rapidly the virus was spreading and how little we knew about it, we all agreed that this was for the best. Trying to gather information and come up with a strategy to deal with this pandemic was the right thing to do. Business Insider, along with many other outlets, had parroted the results of a study published from the Imperial College of London. Media companies pounced on that information to further ingrain the fear that people felt about this disease, and to encourage people to comply with the health orders that were being pushed. Closures of vast swaths of the economy, people being determined by their government to be “non-essential” to the functions of society, losses of millions of jobs, massive spending, the quashing of religious freedoms and individual liberties.
We weren’t allowed to have weddings, funerals, to gather to witness the miracle of birth, to mourn the loss of loved ones. Meanwhile, the health experts and politicians began ignoring the health orders that they imposed on their constituents. Mayors, Governors, State Reps, Health Leaders, Media Personnel. We were told that meeting with a few people not from our own households was risky, and that you were putting your grandparents and children at risk of death. But when John Lewis died, many politicians gathered en masse to attend his funeral.
We are now being told to double mask, and the metrics by which our society would reopen went from 15 days, to 30 days, to once we’re past this spike, to once there is an effective treatment, to once there is a vaccine, to once the vaccine is being deployed, to now where there is zero chance of transmission. Every time we were told that we’d cross a threshold, that at the time seemed impossible, the goalpost was moved. Again and again, we are told we can’t, that we run the risk of spiking cases, that we put our grandparents at risk. And the finish line keeps getting pushed. We run the race and the race never ends. There is no return to normal now.
We need to stand and say “enough.” We need to hold our “leaders” accountable. We need to do our research and be prepared. We need to fortify ourselves against the inevitable volley of accusations of racist, sexist, homophobe, transphobe, and so on that always follows. Those are their regular ammunition. We need to do our research, bring the receipts, and stand firmly by our convictions. Everyone is essential, every job matters, and there are more variables to look at than just the medical ones when determining policy.
A Place 4Politics 