Every day on this site I come across someone who is indignant that others are going about their lives rather than maintaining a rigorous schedule of testing, social distancing, and masking. I always want to ask: what the hell did you think the endgame of this virus was?
Did you really think that people were going to keep masking at work and school *forever*? Test every time they go out in public, *forever*? Quarantine every time they have a casual exposure, *for the rest of their lives*?
And if not, when do you think it is going to end? When everyone's vaccinated? Because that's not happening. When covid stops circulating? Because unfortunately, we failed to contain it, and it's now endemic.
I'm not even arguing about the merits of forever NPTs and mass testing regimes. I'm just amazed that anyone ever thought that this was going to become the new normal.
I think there are things we will keep doing in response to covid. Air purifiers. Masks when you're sick (and for god's sake stay home!) But it was never going to be possible to keep folks masked at work or school forever, or limit social contacts to a few close friends.
You should not be on Twitter, waxing indignant to well-boosted people who have resumed their normal lives. You should be doing some deep soul searching about how you so fundamentally misunderstood what was possible for public health to achieve.
I was a hardcore lockdown advocate before vaccines. But now we have vaccines, and whether or not you think it's reasonable to ask folks to continue the precautions of Peak Pandemic for the sake of those who cannot or will not vaccinate, it was never going to happen.
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