Corona-Pocalypse '20

In what has become the greatest meme generating headline after Donald Trump’s presidency and Justin Trudeau in blackface, the COVID-19 coronavirus has captured our collective imaginations like little else. Always a repository for the uneducated, social media is rife with all manners of fear-mongering, false information, mass hysteria, and public scorn stronger than flat-earth advocacy and liberal-bashing. If Trumpism divided us, Corona-Pocalypse ‘20 appears to have us all headed for the loony bin.

This is a very heavily-layered issue. So, for something a little different, I thought I would try a sort of ‘call and response’ style for this piece.  Except I will be doing all the calling and responding.  Like a ‘frequently asked questions’ column, which the government of New Brunswick has now issued, I will lob some commonly bantered slogans or statements, and respond to them accordingly. I have no intention of doing a research thesis for this, but I will do my best to stick to accepted facts, or at least facts accepted by people trying their best to be impartial and open-minded.

Call #1:

The common cold kills hundreds/thousands/millions of people every year.

Response #1:

Okay, let’s discuss.  What is the ‘common cold’? It’s a virus, much like the flu (that’s short for influenza), and shares similar symptoms, except that they are usually less severe and subside more quickly.  I’m sure people die from the cold, but according to the CDC, it poses minimal risk of death. You would need a significantly compromised immune system for this to be a real worry. COVID-19 is not a cold, and it is not even influenza. It is more in line with pneumonia, with which it is most often compared. Comparing the two is apples and oranges.

Call#2:

I’m not old and I’m not medically vulnerable or fragile, so I’ll be okay.

Response #2:

Good for you. It is disheartening to know so many people choose not to think beyond their own health. I can’t help but imagine these are the same people who leave their garbage in the food court for the cleaners to pick up after them, throw their Budweiser cans out the window while out for a rip, or steal from tip cups.  If you fit this description, you should learn about how people carry viruses, even if the virus doesn’t actually make the carrier sick. You may be playing hot potato with diseases, and you might even luck out on unloading it before the music stops. But you are eventually passing it on to someone, and ‘better them than me’ is so much worse than being selfish.

This is all very much the same as the argument against anti-vaxxers, who also fall in the above category of ignorance. Just because you either don’t understand it, choose not to accept it, or flat out don’t care, you’re actually endangering all of us. And as a result, it is indeed my business.

As I said earlier, I’m not here to conduct a symposium on the nature of viruses. I just don’t buy any excuses at this point in history.  We once lived in a time when sneezing meant you were casting off demons (hence ‘bless you’). Or that there were only four elements—air, fire, earth and water. Or that the world is flat. All of these are scientifically, categorically, and unequivocally false. Opinion can’t be used here, no more than it is not an opinion that two plus two is five. Viruses happen, the inoculated will pass them on, and vaccinations work. But before it even gets to that point, due diligence in personal hygiene will slow that down significantly.

Call #3:

It’s just a matter of time, why shut down our social order when it’s pointless?

Response #3:

Ah, the good ole ‘why make my bed when I’m just going to get back in it again’ argument. The flaw here, of course, is that not making your bed will not make me sick, unless I’m sharing it with you—and most likely I’m not.  A more apt comparison would be staring at what feels like an insurmountable mess in your garage. You could look at it and say ‘what’s the use?’  Or, you could focus on one feasible part of the chore—say, cleaning your workbench, or taking your redemptions to the depot.  There may yet be lots of mess, but you’re one step closer to your goal. Now, say there are five people in your family, and each one takes on one job. Eventually, you have a cleaner garage, and one day it may even be completely clean.

 

So hard to believe?  Well, diseases have been eradicated using this same philosophy. You won’t manage to vaccinate everyone, but if more and more people follow better hygiene and take precautions available to protect themselves, eventually the disease will disappear.  It has happened to smallpox and polio. When was the last time you had diphtheria? Again, this is fact. No one prayed it away.

So is it worth it to disrupt the economy in the interest of trying to contain this virus? Since it is not expected that a vaccine will be available before spring 2021, the best option we have is to slow it down as best we can.  It will be inconvenient. Dying is also inconvenient. Which leads me to…

Call #4:

You’re being over-dramatic… you’re fear-mongering… you’re paranoid…

Response #4:

Am I? Since January 1, 2020, in less than three months, according to the World Health Organization on March 8 (three days before I wrote this), there were about 106,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and nearly 3600 deaths, over 101 countries (out of 195).  A western, first-world country like Italy, with around double Canada’s population and every bit as strong an economy and infrastructure is on complete lockdown. And the scary part is how fast it happened. The first cases were confirmed on January 30. Six weeks later, and over 12,000 confirmed later, the entire nation is shut down.  Talk about your inconvenience. It’s worth mentioning that Vatican City is a sovereign nation within the city of Rome, and even they have a confirmed case.  Someone keep an eye on Pope Francis. He’s not exactly a spring chicken.

What’s more, Italy is considered the country of origin for outbreaks in at least twenty-four other countries. Keep in mind Italy is a G7 country. Only a few weeks ago a New Brunswick school went forward with a planned trip to Italy, before any policies were developed or implemented. Imagine how many thousands of Maritimers have been down south, overseas, or in close contact with people who have.   Today, New Brunswick has confirmed its first case. It is here. It is not paranoia. I wonder, how close does it have to hit home before it becomes a credible threat? It was easy to dismiss when it was still in China, literally the other side of the world. But that was a few months ago.

Call #5:

Turn off the media and use common sense. Wash your hands!

Response #5:

We can agree on the hands thing. I saw a one-panel comic recently that showed an alarm going off when some guy comes out of the washroom without washing his hands and everybody stares up at him. If only it were that easy!

Many people over the last few years have expressed to me that social media and the news are cesspools of negativity. And negativity breeds more negativity. No one likes a Negative Nilly.

While that may be so, denying actual world events is going to cause infinitesimally more harm. Look, the news is depressing. The fact is, news is primarily things that are out of the ordinary. No one needs to know about how many old ladies were helped across the street, who adopted a puppy from the SPCA, and who celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary. These are the little victories that happen to us all the time, and they are celebrated accordingly, usually within a small circle or community, and are no less important—just not newsworthy to the masses. Where we fall short is that we forget about all these things that fall in the shadow of the much less common bad things that happen, and tend to affect more people. I have always believed we have a civic duty to be aware of regional, national, and international news. If we choose to plug our ears with our fingers and sing loudly out of key, we are essentially absconding responsibility. It’s easier to just close the garage doors and concede that you’ll be parking outside from now on.  You can do that if you like, but don’t complain to me when you’re scraping a foot of ice off your windshield.

There is a happy medium. You can watch the news, interact on social media and discuss world issues without being a Debbie Downer. It is still possible to be polite in the face of so much ignorance. You may not convince anyone of anything, and maybe you don’t have to. But to bury your head in the sand is taking the easy way out. We have fundamental freedom of expression. To abuse it is wrong, but to abstain from it is equally harmful.

There are plenty of other calls to which I could respond, but some are just not worth the time. Any that involve the terms ‘libtard’ or ‘snowflake’ need not even be acknowledged. Trolls are gonna troll.  When all is said and done, a very substantial percentage of the world’s population will be either infected or affected with what experts are rightly saying is one of the most serious threats to public health in memory. It is not hyperbole if the facts are backing it up. And they are.

You can believe what you like. I’m just offering a wedge of lime for your Corona.