Thread by @Dreamweasel

TWO YEARS OF COVID-19

We’ve all heard the refrains from people demanding that Life Must Return to Normal:

- “The Omicron variant isn’t that harmful”
- “Social distancing is causing mental illness”
- “Masks are unfair to children”
- “If they’re not vaxed by now, they never will”

Whatever their rationale may be, these people have decided that the risk posed by COVID-19 is outweighed by the damages caused by masks, social distancing, & other mandated shutdowns.

This isn’t even about vaccine skepticism. A lot of these arguments are coming from people who have had the vax. But they believe, rightly or wrongly, that the current variants of COVID-19 are no longer the threat the virus was when it was first discovered two years ago.

We appear to be stuck in a cycle:

1. Things seem to be getting better
2. We relax the restrictions
3. A new variant wipes out thousands more people
4. We tighten restrictions again
5. And we’re back to Square One

This is not an idle or rhetorical question: What are we looking for? Is there a point when we will feel able to gather in large crowds again? What about mask mandates?

Yes, a lot of the blame lies with the chowderheads who refuse the vaccine for partisan political reasons. Is there an exit ramp that does not require their cooperation?

Disdain toward masks - particularly toward those cautious enough to wear them more than required - is rooted in the fear that these restrictions will soon become the “norm” with no plan for them to ever end.

If that’s not the plan, then what is? Is this sustainable indefinitely?

tl;dr version:

While I do not consider myself among the “Vaxed & Done” contingent, I am not entirely sure how to respond to their concerns

Let it also be known that I hold no stock in the notion that pro-restriction liberals are “panic addicts”, masks are virtue signaling, or that liberals consider extreme caution and/or deference to COVID to be intrinsic to their political identity