Introduction
About a month ago, or so an extension of the 2019 COVID19 pandemic entered the US. I call it an extension at this point only because it’s got people triggered to near early pandemic behavior despite current reports from South Africa and the US showing that this new variant, dubbed “Omicron,” is milder onto the scene [1][2][3]. Although nothing has changed in my now heavily appreciated hometown in the country, it’s my current city that continues living in dystopia. This applies for many other cities around the country as they adopt the next round of draconian measures. Many places have seen mask mandates come back into place, and many employers continue to press their employees on vaccines. Lastly, another dose of the vaccines has seen a massive revival in importance, and social pressure to consider another round of lockdowns have been proposed by politicians and commoners alike.
What’s driving dystopia?
It’s the testing. Over in my current city, there’s a social urgency to test ourselves for COVID whether or not we have symptoms in the process. We have people who test themselves weekly even though they are vaccinated and boosted, and wear their mask, and obey the federales. Some of them have even admitted to testing themselves every single day, what madness!
So how does this translate to dystopian policies?
It’s been a point of contention since the beginning of the pandemic about what dataset we need to pay attention to, the current datasets are:
-Cases
-Hospitalizations
-Deaths
Depending on your field, you will emphasize these sets in a different order, but generally, the lines of have fallen along this trend from my observations:
The key here is that a majority of the general public as well as the majority of public health officials emphasize the cases as the primary dataset. The next piece falls on the mid-level managers who are in charge of changing operating procedures at their workplace. So, to try and simplify it all together in a way that makes sense to me at least…
Now, the neuroticism and self-inflicted misery of places like my current city wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t so arrogant or self-righteous about it. The number of times I have heard my co-workers talk about the “stupidity” of their neighboring counties and states is astonishing. In more than one case, I’ve asked my co-workers about their thoughts on how the rest of the surrounding area has moved on from the COVID era.
In response, they call these people: stupid, dumb, hillbillies, confederate flag carriers, and more. Some of my co-workers live in these areas and still hold this view. Others acknowledge that they were able to get COVID related resources such as cold-medicine and tests from these places and yet still call them dumb. The lack of self-awareness is unsettling sometimes. While this is going on, these people are tripping over themselves, blocking traffic, causing long wait times for tests results, and causing shortages of cold-medication and COVID tests in our area, because they’re “smart.”
If this is what it means to be “smart,” to walk outside alone with a mask, to sit in a shop by yourself with a mask on, to drive in your car alone with a mask, to refuse to take an order or let someone pay without a mask, and more.
Is it smart to constantly test yourself when you’re ok and the disease is mild? Is it smart to blindly believe anyone with a PhD or MD just because they’re on your favorite news station? Is it smart to yell at someone without a mask when you’re not wearing one yourself? Is it smart to advocate for mask mandates when you always take off your mask when alone? Is it smart to watch live streams of your favorite place where people clearly have masks on and then tape a sign to the door telling people to put a mask on? Is it smart to take a booster if it was never modified for the disease at hand? Is it smart to watch co-workers slog through work on the day of their booster and think it’s just normal? Is it smart to watch a young, healthy woman take a 4-day leave of absence because of a booster reaction and think to yourself that it just happens sometimes? Is it smart to watch vaccinated and unvaccinated people alike get sick around you and still think that the vaccines are highly effective or effective?
All these things I have seen and heard in one of the wealthiest and most-educated counties in all of America, and furthermore, at a workplace with high levels of Master’s and doctoral degree holders. If this is what it means to be smart, then I would rather be stupid, dumb, dense, a maroon, an oaf, a dunce, and even a half-wit. At least the so-called “stupid” learned to move on with their lives and stop the dystopian nightmare that has become COVID-era culture.
I think from this point forward I’m going to treat the words smart and educated as insults, and tell people that I’m not smart, but that I’m “gleefully stupid.”
References
[1] Matthews S. Omicron may be nearly 100 TIMES less deadly than Delta, scientists say [Internet]. Mail Online. 2022 [cited 2022 Jan 9]. Available from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10358361/Omicron-nearly-100-TIMES-deadly-seasonal-flu-scientists-believe.html.
[2] Chutel L. Illnesses tied to the Omicron variant may be milder, a preliminary study suggests. The New York Times [Internet]. 2021 Dec 14 [cited 2022 Jan 9]; Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/14/world/africa/omicron-south-africa-study.html.
[3] UC Davis Health. Omicron: 10 things to know about the very contagious COVID-19 variant [Internet]. newsroom. [cited 2022 Jan 9]. Available from: https://health.ucdavis.edu/newsroom/news/headlines/omicron-10-things-to-know-about-the-very-contagious-covid-19-variant/2022/01.