Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Two Americas

 The GOP/Fox News death cult that has stirred up partisan division over public health measures is one of the most depressing events in recent memory, and that includes 1/6.

There's some evidence that regardless of mandates, people are indeed changing their behavior in a rational way. The impact of the virus among the vaccinated and unvaccinated is so starkly different that we've effectively "privatized" our pandemic response.

One America is vaccinated, thinking about or has already gotten a booster and puts a mask back on during a surge in cases. The other is bathed in the blood of Jesus and holds rallies on the Mall saying that getting a vaccine is the same as the Holocaust.

Totally normal stuff.

I moved to KN95 masks when I saw what was happening with Omicron and as more data came out about how much effective they were than regular surgical masks. I've also been holding wrestling practices where the kids "wear masks" in the most perfunctory way. We just tested our team and we only had one, asymptomatic positive. Remarkable, but also not because the team is vaccinated and many are boosted.

I'm hopeful that by March break things will feel a little more normal, though we will be travelling down South where Omicron will likely still be circulating. My hope is that we can see a real return to normality by April across the country.

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