I wish I could be around to see how historians will record the Covid year of 2021. It would read something like this:
"At the beginning of the
year, a vaccine was made available free of charge to all adults, and eventually
to all children over age 12. It helped the people to avoid the virus or, at
least, minimized the symptoms for those who became ill, keeping them out of
hospitals and the ICU.
"The vaccine was so was
easy to get that eventually, all people had to do was show up at their local
pharmacy. The vaccine, properly administered, could have wiped out the virus in
due time or at least made it less contagious.
"At first, the vaccination
program went smoothly, so that by springtime, vaccinated people believed they
were protected from the virus and began returning to everyday activities.
"Unfortunately, about half
the country refused to take the vaccine for a variety of reasons based on
misinformation they heard from a former president or right-wing media or some
crazy uncle on the internet, and that allowed the virus to mutate among the
unvaccinated. Once again, Covid begin to spread throughout the country and this
time, the variant was many times more contagious than before.
"By mid-summer, the number
of cases of Covid had escalated back to peak numbers, and children were
particularly affected, so once again, citizens were advised to wear facemasks
in public places and stay six feet from other people -- called social
distancing -- to limit the spread of the virus. The solution was just that
simple.
"However, in some states,
like Texas and Florida, where cases were skyrocketing, authoritarian governors
with political aspirations refused to allow their citizens to take even those
simple, basic precautions. They made it illegal to require masks in schools,
for example, and even punished school districts who didn't follow their new
rules.
"Instead of trying to
PREVENT the spread of the disease, they opened clinics to treat people with
antibodies and other drugs AFTER they got sick, and some went so far as
ordering refrigerated trailer trucks to serve as mobile morgues for the people
who died from the disease.
"Historians today still
struggle with the logic of those decisions, especially considering that
Covid-19 continues to infect and kill thousands of Americans after all these
years. In what was generally thought to be the most advanced country in the
world, scientists all agree that it didn't have to be this way."
