Politics Plus

What the hell is it with anti-vaxx and anti-mask people? Why do they refuse to take simple precautions to curb the spread of a very real and potentially deadly disease? This is no time to whine about individual rights, this is a time to take one for the team – a very big team, namely, all humanity. At last count, one out of every 500 US residents has died from COVID-19. That is a LOT of tragedies, a lot of funerals, a lot of lost loved ones, co-workers, neighbors, BFFs, drinking buddies.

As I write this, a number of COVID horror stories are making the rounds. One is about an Alabama man who died of cardiac issues after 43 hospitals with full ICUs turned him away. Why so many hospitals have ICUs that are crammed full should be obvious. And it isn’t so much because of the coronavirus, but the nincompoops who are aiding and abetting not just the spread of the illness but also the rate of mutation. The more people get infected, the more chances the virus has to change and get either deadlier or more contagious, or both.

Another involves a Florida couple whose son had appendicitis. They went to the local ER at around 1 AM, but it was already crowded – so crowded, in fact, there were not enough chairs for all three to sit. One nurse told them the reason for the long delay was simple: COVID. When the young man finally got into surgery, his appendix had burst, which is a life-threatening situation. This did not have to happen, and would not have happened if more people exercised personal responsibility.

Candace Ayers of Illinois, who was fully vaccinated, visited Mississippi, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. She contracted COVID-19 and died. I have made two out-of-state trips in the last three weeks, one to North Carolina to visit a family member who had been hospitalized, and one to Texas for a national convention. A few days after returning home I got tested, and thankfully the results came back negative. Not only have I gotten both of my “jabs,” but I take precautions such as wearing masks and thoroughly washing my hands. Also, I’ve been fortunate.

In Colorado, a bunch of jerks threw garbage and lit fireworks at three mobile vaccine clinics, forcing them to shut down. How many people who wanted to be vaccinated had to wait another day, or several days, because of these ignorant and selfish creeps? What did they hope to accomplish? People like them are enemies of human life.

The problem with common sense is it’s anything but common. Far too many people are ignoring medical pundits who have years of education on the subject of infectious diseases, and years or even decades of experience dealing with such; and listening to ignorant knot-heads whose knowledge of medicine is scanty at best but who spew garbage as if they knew more than Dr. Fauci. These jerks cater to the ignorance-is-strength extreme right-wing crowd, the hypocrites who have purloined “My Body My Choice” to mean they don’t have to wear masks if they don’t want to.

One word very accurately describes anti-maskers: crybabies. They howl that masks make it hard to breathe, and parrot rubbish about masks blocking oxygen or causing a buildup of carbon dioxide. Bonjour! Surgeons wear similar masks for hours, yet you never hear about them keeling over in the middle of operations. FYI, oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules are way, way smaller than even the smallest virus.

Another thing they claim is enforced mask-wearing is a form of oppression. Excrementum tauri. There is a definite difference between oppression and inconvenience. Lockdowns and quarantines are temporary, and so are mask mandates. I wonder how many of those who rail against masks and lockdowns have no problem with the PATRIOT Act, or mass surveillance, or taking off their shoes before boarding an airplane. Individual rights are important, but your rights end where your neighbor’s nose begins. If you are spreading dangerous viruses with every exhalation, you are violating the bodily autonomy of everybody who inhales what you breathed out. If someone catches COVID-19 because you didn’t wear a mask, you are responsible for his/her illness, if that person dies, you have blood on your hands.

Opponents of coronavirus vaccinations belch some of the same sort of B.S. that anti-vaxx bugnuts have been using for years. One claim is we shouldn’t get our corona “jabs” because you don’t know what’s in the vaccine. Have these people ever read the ingredients of the sodas they guzzle, or the Cheesy Poofs or other junk food they shovel into their maws? Another claim about the COVID-19 vaccination is they inject you with a microchip. Even the tiniest microchip is far too large to fit through the fine needles used for coronavirus shots.

Time and again you hear about people who are anti-vaxx, and probably anti-mask as well, who come down with COVID-19 and then urge people to get the vaccine. Quite a few people have died of a disease whose existence they denied, sometimes even to the very end. Others managed to face reality, although often it was too late by then.

Fortunately, the majority of US citizens and residents are willing to listen to disease experts and follow the guidelines that the CDC recommends, such as wearing masks, social distancing, and getting vaccinated. The fact that California’s Governor Gavin Newsom survived the recall attempt should send a clear message to Republicans and other right-wingers that most people understand we all need to exercise self-discipline. We would not need mask or vaccination mandates if people heeded infectious disease experts and understood that individual rights are not absolutes. Just as the better part of valor is discretion, so the better part of right is responsibility.

We all need to accept that we are in the middle of a global emergency. We all need to put on our big kid pants and accept some temporary inconvenience until the pandemic ebbs. If we truly want a “return to normal,” the more people take the proper precautions now, the sooner we can start gathering in large groups, eating at indoor restaurants, attending concerts and sporting events, et cetera.