Someone I work with got covid a couple weeks ago. I don't like to write about work because, given my huge readership (hello to the four of you!), I don't want to write anything that could get me fired. But every good rule deserves to get broken now and again, right? Right. The four of you won't tell, right? Sure.
When I learned this person had covid I wasn't too concerned—I assumed it was a breakthrough infection, which happens, and they'd be fine. This was a reasonable assumption because I work at a university where vaccination is required. And I also did not think this person was stupid enough to be unvaccinated. Alas, my faith in intelligence is clearly unwarranted, because this person is not vaccinated. Not vaccinated and not young, either.
My coworker is fine. But I am angry. I'm not angry because I'm scared, I'm angry because it's so utterly stupid and selfish.
I just, I mean, aargh, I can't even explain how much work it takes to be unvaccinated here. You need to apply for a religious exemption that is very onerous and time-consuming. And once you have that, you actually have to risk getting covid. The work and the risk is just so much greater than the minor inconvenience of getting vaccinated that I just cannot comprehend the utter stupidity of this choice. It is so completely selfish! If you don't get sick you're a possible vector to someone immunocompromised and if you do get sick and go to the hospital you are taking up space someone else might need.
And this is a person I work with every day! I have to listen to their opinion! They routinely insist that I follow administrative rules that are pointless and yet they couldn't be bothered to get a required vaccination against a deadly disease that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Every time this person speaks all I can think of is how selfish and misguided they are and it's utterly exhausting.
(To be clear, this person's religion has no prohibition against vaccination. I assume they came up with something to meet the requirements of a religious exemption but this person isn't a Christian Scientist or anything. I would wager all the money I have that they have been vaccinated for polio.)
And then, on the flipside: my parents just returned from 2 weeks in Germany where you are not allowed to go anywhere—even an open air market—without wearing an N95 mask. If you are wearing a cloth mask the covid police will refuse you entry. Everywhere you go you are required to report your location through a government app. You are required to get tested for covid every time you travel to a new state or town. At one point my parents were refused entry to a hotel where they had a reservation because the number of cases in that town had increased and they shut down all the hotels. They had to travel to a different state in order to find a place to stay.
My parents loved it. They thought it was truly wonderful to have the government track their movements, they felt so safe, they can't understand why Americans would object to being monitored in this way. And I said, really? You really can't understand it? No, they said, it's ridiculous that anyone would object to being tracked by the government at all times. Especially during a health crisis.
I need to go back and reread Carl Schmitt, but I'm pretty sure we're so deep into the state of exception we can't even recognize it anymore. And I am just so, so, so tired. I want to move into a house in the middle of the woods with no internet or phone and never talk to anyone ever again. Goodbye, cruel covid world.
12 comments:
Do the German covid police also hand out the N95 masks for free? B/c that seems only fair if you're going to require people to wear them.
Reaction formation on both sides has vacated the sensible middle?
Although tbh, I would rather be stuck w/ unvaccinated colleagues (assuming I could still be vaccinated) than have my every move tracked by the gov't, if I had to choose one.
I don't know, good question. They probably do. I wonder if they give people smartphones so they can download tracking apps? It does seem only fair, if you're going to all these requirements you should supply the tools.
I think I probably agree that I would rather be stuck with my unvaccinated colleagues than be tracked by the government. But I just don't think I should have to choose between these two epically shitty options!! Hence my decision to move to the woods.
What is the sensible middle, anyway? Because when I tell my parents that masking seems pointless now that I'm vaccinated they get mad at me, and when I tell my coworkers I'm getting a booster they also get mad at me. I can't tell whether I'm in the middle or on Mars.
The sensible middle is where *I* am at any given time. I also got a booster, and I don't wear masks unless it's required and someone is around to report me for violating the rules.
This is also where *I* am, so I guess we can inhabit the middle together. You are allowed to come visit me in the woods.
Unmasked, I hope! (But boosted.)
That is so obnoxious about your co-worker.
The German surveillance state is not really helping, right? Their cases are also spiking?
My version of the sensible middle wants masks to continue to be required in indoor spaces that are mostly unavoidable, like grocery stores and public transportation, until little kids can get vaccinated. Adult-only offices with vaccine requirements don't need masks.
I do wish the kids' school let them take off masks outside, but I know it's logistically difficult to manage kids taking their masks on and off.
No, I don't think the German surveillance has helped at all. But I guess it makes people feel safe?
I appreciate your version of the sensible middle! Personally I don't think kids should be wearing masks, given that covid rarely causes serious illness. If kids should wear masks for covid, shouldn't they always wear them for the flu and RSV and all the other respiratory illnesses? I'm worried that the masks will never go away.
https://theweek.com/coronavirus/1008094/the-radicalization-of-a-covid-moderate
Yeah. I mean, I am the kind of person that actually worried a lot about rsv and flu especially when the twins were under 2. I just didn’t know anything about masks and of course that would have been hugely socially unacceptable. But while I do hope the kids stop wearing masks at school as soon as vaccinated, I am probably one of those people who will wear a mask on an airplane forevermore. And when meeting a newborn or visiting someone in the hospital. So I guess I am ok with masks never going away for myself in some situations.
I get that. I will probably wear a mask in indoor places when I'm sick going forward. Just seems like good hygiene at this point!
I will never wear a mask anywhere once I'm permitted to stop. But will I be? Hard to imagine a future in which this decision is totally individualized and carries no social weight either way.
I think so. I hope so! I don't know when exactly, but most people really dislike masks, especially for kids, even progressive liberal East Coast people. I don't think it's hugely harmful, but it's obviously not beneficial for language development and socialization for children, and I think this sentiment will start to outweigh the covid risks, hopefully before the start of the next school year.
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