You are the strangest stranger I've ever seen

[sovay]

And two years ago the WHO declared a pandemic and now we are supposed to behave as though it is over and COVID-19 as modestly endemic as the common cold. Who needs masks? Who needs social distancing? Who cares about vulnerable populations? I don't know if I could feel disillusioned by 2020, but it was impressive to realize how many people really just wanted me and just about everyone I cared for dead in the casual, impersonal sort of way where the likelihood of our deaths troubled them less than any alternative which might personally inconvenience them. And they still do, and the country has decided it is more important to placate them than protect anyone else, and I don't know when I will ever visit a museum again. After an optimistic start to the week, my physical health flattened me and I wouldn't be enjoying this concentration of pain no matter what, but the reminder of all the crowds unmasking like it's 2019 that I am seen as so very expendable certainly isn't improving the experience. I have not felt very much like placating people for a long time now.

Comments

[rachelmanija]

It's very depressing. It seems like governments worldwide decided everyone was sick of the pandemic and therefore they'd just declare it over. If there's any actual real-life reason to believe Omicron is the last variant, I have yet to see it. So I guess we just accept that 2000 people dying of Covid every day, plus however many people survive with permanent damage, is a perfectly fine price to pay in exchange for not making people wear masks inside?

[sovay]

It's very depressing. It seems like governments worldwide decided everyone was sick of the pandemic and therefore they'd just declare it over.

I don't know anyone who isn't sick of it, including me, but I want genuinely innocuous variants and/or an effective coverage of broad-spectrum vaccines before I ditch my mask and start dining out! I called in an order to a store tonight and was not pleased to discover when I had to come inside to pick it up that everyone else in the place was unmasked, including the cheerful cashier who had told me not to worry about coming in. I saw bars and restaurants tonight with lines down the block. I'm waiting for the wastewater spike and for my chances of seeing the doctors I really need to see to close back down to zero, which is going to make me feel so much better about everything.

If there's any actual real-life reason to believe Omicron is the last variant, I have yet to see it.

I hadn't seen people claiming that. For God's sake, it's not even like it's Omega. I thought that was the one thing about the Greek alphabet anyone knew.

So I guess we just accept that 2000 people dying of Covid every day, plus however many people survive with permanent damage, is a perfectly fine price to pay in exchange for not making people wear masks inside?

I have a friend who caught an insultingly mild case of Omicron and recovered with no apparent ill effects beyond the damage to their family holidays and then suddenly I was on the phone with them while they were having a heart attack at four in the morning with no berths in any ER within driving distance and now they have needed two rounds of cardioversion for recurring arrythmia and their ejection fraction is for crap. Vaccinated, boosted, masked, high-risk. It's not acceptable. I know you know that.

[asakiyume]

Oh man, your friend ;_;

(And I agree with you entirely, about everything.)