After two years of pandemic and a resurgence that is not likely the last one, the pandemic has taught us that there are two viruses: The coronavirus (with its variants delta, omicron and more to come) and the opposition virus, preventing us from beating the first one.
The opposition virus has many variants. The denial variant: The coronavirus does not exist, is blown out of proportion, is not dangerous or is not contagious. The freedom variant: From lockdown to mask mandate or vaccinations, all successive public policy attempts to fight the coronavirus were against our freedom. The change aversion variant: Life should have gone on as if nothing had happened. And finally, perhaps the worst, the callousness variant: We do not really care about the impact the coronavirus has on other people.
The opposition virus infected a sufficiently high number of people that despite heroic efforts of so many, it now appears that we will have to learn to live with the coronavirus for years and decades to come.
I see this as a sad moment. If humanity can’t come together and defend itself against a rather simple danger, what are our chances against future, larger threats?
France Barral
Millcreek