The COVID Emergency Might Be Over: The War on Science Is Just Getting Started
Official mandates are expiring
Three years ago the mysterious disease that started in China was just beginning to emerge in the US. At every stage in this experience there have been mistakes and missteps, both by scientists and politicians. Regardless, the disease marched on, killing the elderly and the immunocompromised along the way, and leaving some of those who recovered with ongoing physical and mental ailments.
Historically, civilization only has seen one response to infectious diseases that seemed to make a difference, namely isolating the unwell from the general population. Ships arriving in Venice, Italy during the 14th century from ports known to have disease outbreaks were required to sit at anchor for 40 days before landing. This practice, called quarantine, was derived from the Italian words quaranta giorni which mean 40 days.
COVID’s method of spreading wasn’t clear at the start. Scientists knew that it was airborne, and thought those viruses were capable of infecting people who touched an object coming from a space where viruses floated around.
People ended up sanitizing produce by soaking items in bleach (or other disinfectant) solutions, leaving the groceries on the front porch, and latex gloves became fashionable in some quarters. There were significant disruptions in the supply chain, aggravated by stockpiling and black market wannabes.
I’ll never forget the sight of toilet paper stacked (and priced) up in a parking lot at El Cajon Boulevard & Hamilton Street. For almost the entirety of the past three years, cat food was in short supply, and the brands available were on my cat’s no-no list. Those of us living under feline rule feared the consequences of an empty food bowl.
“Just” two weeks of lockdown didn’t stop the spread of the disease, as infections ebbed and flowed through the populace. Masks were seen as having a questionable impact, and the ones that were supposedly higher efficiency ones were all-but-impossible to find.
Zoom became an almost universal stand in for human contact, and some of us learned about mute buttons. Trolls and troublemakers jumped into publicly advertised virtual gatherings, spreading obscenities and hate speech until verification methods became available.
The President of the United States decided that disruptions related to the disease were adversely impacting his chances of being elected. After several months of thanking the Chinese government for their cooperation, the most populous nation on the planet was rhetorically transformed into public enemy number one.
Asian Americans were targeted domestically as if they were personally responsible. The outburst of racist hate released attacks on businesses, social gatherings, and individuals unlucky enough to be caught by thugs as they walked down the street.
Donald Trump played to that crowd, using variations on the theme of the “Wuhan” sickness as a means of conveying approval of antisocial behavior. It didn’t take too long for conspiracy mongers and hate groups to jump into the fray, with threats and offensive language aimed at scientists, doctors, and politicians who thought they were serving the public by listening to expert advice.
Shut downs came and went and frustration mounted in broad swathes of the population. Every kind of whack-a-doodle conspiracy exploded on social media, encouraged by a chief executive who claimed bleach injections and horse deworming medicine were viable treatments for the disease.
Six months after the disease emerged, treating anybody perceived as standing in the way of normalcy in the same manner as extremists politicians are now exploiting for something they call “woke.” Not wearing a mask became a symbol of resistance, and everybody from nurses to retail workers were on the receiving end of the venom that ensued.
By the end of 2020, vaccines were far enough along in the testing stage to offer up some hope. I remember police unions, which later became centers of resistance, complaining about the fact that law enforcement wasn’t first in line to get a shot.
The methodology behind the various vaccines was/is based on techniques that hadn’t been shown to be fruitful in tests for other diseases. Starting out with the public’s assumption that inoculation prevented infection and ending with the current understanding of vaccines as effective in moderating COVID symptoms in otherwise healthy people, the story of immunization was convoluted at best.
None-the-less, they have helped avert tens of millions of deaths worldwide, by some estimates.
At every juncture, including the need for booster shots, more people dropped away from the public consensus about the motives and methods of scientists, providing even more fertile ground for extremist elements to use to recruit a new generation of activists willing to act out the twisted tactics of the alt-right and the more traditional enemies of democracy.
Now, more than a million Americans are dead. And since resistance to vaccines and available approved treatments is now common among the MAGA set, more Republicans than Democrats are dying every day.
Who needs imaginary caravans of immigrants, when everyday delusions are functioning as the ‘great replacement?’ (Sorry, not sorry, about the cynicism; I am averse to public displays of stupidity.)
You’d think that –true or not– the perception of the worst of the pandemic being behind us would result in less drama and politicization. But you’d be wrong.
Although local elements of pandemic resistance cadres have moved on to banning books, making racism great again, and looking under sofa cushions for drag queens, politicians of a certain mentality haven’t given up.
More than 80 anti-vaccine bills were introduced in state legislatures in 2022, and the trend is continuing this year. Nearly half of those bills go further than addressing COVID; they’re also aiming to block schools from requiring other kinds of vaccinations as well.
In Idaho, a deep-red state (Donald Trump carried 63.8% of the 2020 popular vote), Republican legislators are taking their conspiratorial beliefs regarding COVID-19 a step further by attempting to criminalize mRNA vaccines.
In Florida, the quest to criminalize COVID is on. In December, Gov. Desantis also successfully lobbied the Florida Supreme Court to empanel a grand jury to investigate the development, distribution and promotion of the vaccine.
He’s also seeking to make permanent laws passed in November 2021 by a special legislative session in response to the Biden administration’s federal vaccine mandate. Those measures, scheduled to expire at the end of June, included prohibitions on mask requirements in schools and government and prohibited vaccines as a condition to travel.
You know Desantis is aiming for higher office because of his important concessions to medical quacks with a degree. He wants to prevent doctors from losing their medical license if they stake out positions that contradict medical consensus.
And, not to be outdone by their Governor, Republican legislators are working on passage of a bill to abolish the Florida Democratic Party.
Here in California, the Freedom Angels has moved on for the moment to marshaling public opposition to the HPV vaccine, you know, the shot that prevents women from getting cancer. The crusade started in farthest reaches of the holy rollers, because vaccinating younger women means that Satan is going drive them into sinful sexual behavior.
This group is illustrative of the far right connection to so-called grassroots organizations.
From Wikipedia:
Freedom Angels became involved with the attempt to force a recall of Governor Gavin Newsom, but because of their hard-right turn, the organizers of the initiative cut ties with them. The group became close to far-right groups and was frequently involved in the protests supporting Donald Trump after he lost the 2020 election. Aguilar and Thornton in particular took a portion of the group toward more extreme positions, with Aguilar openly supporting the Proud Boys and trying to organize an all-women militia (named Mamalitia) promoting survivalism and alternative medicine. In the Fall of 2021, Aguilar added the San Joaquin County Liberty Coalition to the list of group she oversees.
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Lead image by Anthony Crider
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