Moving On

My mask collection

Derek Thompson kept saying the “liberals” in Texas (yes, his word) were still wearing masks while people in the “rural areas” never did and threw them away as soon as Abbott told them they could (the implication was severe independence on the part of the latter group, but if they were waiting for the Governor to tell them to quit doing something...?).  

His point was COVID cases were down in Texas as well as in California, and California (being “liberal”) was clearly more restrictive than Texas ever was, and what good did that do for California?  The basis for this argument was that effect (declining cases) had clearly been caused by….well, by what?

The vaccination rate in Texas is hardly higher than the rest of the country.  34% of the population is fully vaccinated. 42% have received at least one shot.  That’s hardly enough to get anywhere near herd immunity. California has 41% vaccinated, 55% have received at least one shot.  And yet both states have seen significant declines in cases.  The pandemic isn’t over, but the strain on the healthcare system that this disease represented for over a year (the death count was never the worst of the disease’s actions, bad as it was) is abating.  That is good news.

But what cause led to this effect? 

I don’t know, anymore than anyone else does.  I just have a supposition.  As I understand it, the Spanish Flu was never “cured,” and certainly no vaccine for it was ever created. It came in two waves, the second resurgence worse than the first.  But it was finally spent.  It “ran its course.”  It abated, and life returned to normal.  That seems to be happening now, with vaccinations hastening it on its way, even as experts warn us it won’t go away, not permanently. 

I think that’s what we’re seeing now.  Covid, for want of a better explanation, has “run its course.”  Those most likely to get infected, have been.  The rest of us, if we don’t have natural immunity, are either less likely to get infected (for reasons we may never understand), or are now vaccinated.

Every year a new flu shot is formulated and distributed.  Until a year ago (before the pandemic), I’d never gotten a flu shot, because I never got the flu.  But reaching my middle ‘60’s, I got the shot.  I also didn’t get the flu.  I also wore a mask, everywhere; and avoided people as much as possible (gyms, movie theaters, restaurants, etc.).  I didn’t get covid.  Other people did, however:  some got mild cases and recovered; some had severe cases and spent weeks in the hospital on respirators; some suffered permanent physical and neurological damage; some died.  Why the wide variations?   Aye, that’s the question, isn’t it?

Why are cases of covid declining now?  Because restrictive government measures were no more useful than lax ones?  Actually, Texas was not as lax as some states, and people in cities (like Houston) are around far more strangers in a day than people in small towns and rural areas.  I went to a restaurant over the weekend, where nobody was wearing a mask, not even the staff.  But in my grocery store, everyone is still wearing a mask. I picked up kolaches (basically donuts) this morning; everyone inside the tiny store was masked.  Well, almost everyone.  I’ve taken to following the crowd:  if customers in the store have masks, I put on one.  If I’m the only person in a store with a mask, I fell a bit conspicuous. If the store employees are comfortable without masks, I am, too.  I’m vaccinated, after all. I’m not sure the mask will protect me any more than that.

Is the pandemic over?  God willing, it is. Is it over because the vaccine has protected us all?  Not yet it hasn’t.  Is it over because of government mandates?  Actually most stores and businesses in Texas still have signs up urging masks, but no longer requiring them.  Compliance now is as voluntary as it was then.  One or two people might have thrown very noisy fits in stores or restaurants and forced the police to arrest them for criminal trespass, but no one in Texas needed a police officer at their elbow to make them protect themselves.  We still don’t.

That isn’t proof government is unnecessary.  It is proof people mostly want to protect themselves, and others, from disease.  We aren’t all selfish, childish assholes.  And just because we do want to stay safe and help others stay safe, doesn’t mean we’re “liberal” city dwellers or conservative, unconcerned rural “folk.”  We wore masks because it was the right thing to do.  We did it universally because government told us it would protect us all.  Abbott prematurely told us we didn’t need that protection anymore, and we went right on wearing the masks, anyway.  I think the lesson here is that we still work collectively through government to take care of each other and ourselves.  We certainly don’t slavishly follow government mandates; but neither do we listen to government when we think it’s being foolish, or worse, political.

The GOP party in Texas, the loudest anti-government activists in Texas, complained loud and long about Abbott’s closing of businesses and mask requirements.  But even when he lifted them, many people didn’t burn their masks, or even discard them.  That’s actually the story of “liberals” and “conservatives” here.  And part of the story is, those labels don’t really matter all that much.  We may be represented by clowns; but we don't choose to live in the clown show.