I have hit a wall with Covid.
I’ve done every stage of this pandemic: The “Tiger King” stage, the 10,000 steps a day phase, the adopting a dog phase, the regret of having adopted a dog phase, and the inability to imagine my life without the dog phase. And the sweatpants phase that I truly worry will never end.
I wore the mask (sometimes two). I sprayed down the groceries (remember that?). I’ve had my nostrils violated countless times. I’ve canceled plans. I’ve stayed home. And I got the vaccine the moment I could.
But two weeks and some 650 days into “flattening the curve,” I’m done. I don’t care what cable news is blaring on about these days: In this house, Covid is over. On New Year’s Eve, do you know who we hosted? Two beloved friends who were positive for Omicron and stuck at home alone with mild colds. I feel great about that decision. (And I’m still negative.)
But I’m out of step with my city. When I am asked to show my vaccine card at a bar—even though that says nothing about whether or not I’m actively transmitting Covid—I want to laugh. When I eat at a restaurant where the diners are unmasked but the staff are forced to don stormtrooper headgear and gloves, I wonder if people realize what this looks like. Or when friends ask me to swab my nose so we can hang out, well, I’ll do it only because I try to be polite.
Those of you reading this in states like Florida and Texas are probably patting yourself on the backs for your wise life choices. Which, fair enough. But for many of us in America, our lives are still being controlled by the pandemic. And the irrationality of the policies and conversations around Covid—irrationality that comes from our public health authorities, from our schools and our workplaces, from our local governments and our media—is making skeptics out of even the most compliant.
The medical establishment remains singularly focused on this virus, even as life-saving vaccines have been available to every adult in America who wants them for almost a year now. Meanwhile, other problems go ignored. Overdose deaths have soared. People have failed to get timely treatment for cancer. There is a growing mental health crisis, especially among young people. Kids have fallen behind in school. And this is to say nothing of lost time. Two years is not insignificant. Our priorities right now feel off.
What gives? Why do things seem so nonsensical? Who should we trust? How can we get back to normal—or at least some semblance of normal? And how can we do it responsibly and safely?
To answer these questions—plus yours! bring them all!—we’re hosting a roundtable discussion this evening (8 PM EST/5 PM PST) with three doctors who have been islands of sanity in a sea of misinformation and confusion.
Dr. Vinay Prasad is an associate professor of epidemiology at UCSF. In September, he was a guest on Honestly.
Dr. Stefan Baral is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
Dr. Lucy McBride is a practicing internist in Washington DC, mental health advocate, and author of a popular COVID-19 newsletter. You might have caught this excellent clip of her from Brian Stelter’s show:
I’m really looking forward to it.
Zoom details will be emailed to paying subscribers at 1 PM EST. If you’re not already a subscriber, consider becoming one now.
“But for many of us in America, our lives are still being controlled by the pandemic.”
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Excellent piece by Bari, but I really need to understand why people do this. Especially when smart people like Bari do it. Why do people insist on pretending the virus did this to us? The government did this to us.
Your lives are being controlled by scumbag politicians and bureaucrats.
We decided, a while ago, that everyone needs to go to college and as a result we now have a shortage of forklift drivers and waitresses and a surplus of unintelligent, ineffective, dangerous assholes with name tags and parking passes and real power.
Their jobs need to be eliminated. We can’t just move on from the pandemic. We need to eliminate this problem or it will keep coming back.
OSHA is a threat to freedom. It needs to be eliminated. The CDC is a threat to freedom. It needs to be eliminated. The CDC had one chance to ‘control disease’ and the result was 15x worse than if we did not have a CDC at all. Eliminated.
Give the money to single mothers or pay reparations. I don’t give a shit what you do with the money. Eliminated.
I want Washington DC to look like like Enron and Lehman Brothers with people crying and carrying their little cardboard box from their office out to their car knowing their pension is gone, the ‘industry’ they work in has been dismantled, and they have to start their life over from scratch.
And don’t bother coming to me with
“Oh but we need the CDC because they…..”
I’m sure they do a few things that are worthwhile. That doesn’t matter. The marginal benefit does not outweigh the *extreme* threat that they pose to liberty.
ELIMINATED.
I love you Bari but it is time to stand up to unreasonable requests. I finally did it this Christmas when my brother's girlfriend wanted everyone (16 people) to get tested before Christmas Eve dinner. I said, "No, If you are scared don't come. I understand everyone has different ideas on Covid but at this point these are the rules in my house, and we will miss you, but I will not ask people to get tested, vaxxed, wear mask etc..." Yes, my brother and my mother called me selfish (Really?) but they came, and everyone had a great time. I also stipulated- NO COVID TALK. I said all of this calmly and sweetly but held firm. A wonderful evening!!