When you do not learn the lessons that history is trying to teach you…you will have to repeat the course! How many times must we debate that ONE of the fundamental rights of citizenship is the Right to VOTE? How many times must we have the conversation around “sensible gun control”? How many times do we have to discuss the fact that we are living in “Two Americas”, or that mask wearing is A-political?
All over America the rate of COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths is rising. In the beginning of June we had just started to envision a time when we could once again begin to do ordinary activities with one another. We could have a meal with friends and family. Go out to a sporting event or even out to dinner. We could begin to travel once again. And we even started talking about in-person classes for our young people and college students when the academic year begins in August and September. All of this was made possible by the sacrifices we have made as a society as we submitted ourselves to shutdowns, lockdowns, and mask wearing and socially distancing in public spaces.
Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel has also been made possible because of the efficacy of the vaccines that more than 67% of Americans have lined up to take. Many of those same Americans had hesitancy and some trepidation around the vaccines and what might be the side effects or the physical reaction to taking that injection. However, most of us put that aside as we weighed the pros and the cons of so-called “side-effects” against the probability of extreme illness, hospitalization and death that becoming infected with COVID-19 or its subsequent variants could cause. We believed the science! And the decrease in all of the aforementioned consequences of catching the virus and passing it on to our loved ones, friends and co-workers became abundantly CLEAR! We were coming out of a long dark period of time and it felt good!
However, our celebration has been short-lived because there are too many people who refused to take the vaccines no matter how many incentives were offered or convenient locations opened up to make it as easy as possible for people to get vaccinated. Science teaches us that viruses want to live… and they will find a way to do so! When one avenue is closed, they mutate and find a new way in! When a large percentage of the population is inoculated against the virus we cut off its source and it has a harder time mutating and finding new hosts. We choke off its supply line by inoculating ourselves against it! That is unless we don’t?
Because so many people are refusing to be vaccinated, we continue to keep this virus alive and well as it continues to attack the un-vaccinated at will. And, because many of those people continue to mix-it-up and intermingle unprotected, they continue to spread the virus far and wide. NOW, as COVID cases continue to rise, all over the U.S., we about to go into another shutdown and/or lockdown. We have NOT learned the lessons that the past 18-months has tried to teach us. So those of us who have been making sacrifices will be penalized due to the actions of the many of us who refuse to.
What should be done at this point is to mandate the protection of those who want to participate in prevention, self-care and above all the care of others. All of those people who want the freedom to NOT WEAR a MASK or to Not get Vaccinated should Not be allowed to go to places where those of us who are vaccinated and/or are willing to wear masks live, work, play and do business. You are FREE to Not be vaccinated AND to NOT wear a mask, but for the public health and safety of the people who are vaccinated and who DO wear a mask, you will have to exercise your “Free Will” somewhere else! We did it with smoking and second-hand smoke! This is a public health crisis and it demands that our public officials protect the greater good of the public they serve.
