As I wrote this post, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard, 4,264,652 people have died worldwide in this horrific pandemic, and 615,276 of those were in the US. Those numbers are even higher by the time you are reading this, and they most likely only represent the tip of a very huge iceberg, because some places are better at reporting than others.
It’s hard to wrap one’s brain around a number that’s up in the millions, but imagine this: If each of those people were buried in a standard sized coffin, and you lined them up end to end, you’d have a line of coffins that would stretch from Seattle, Washington to Cochabamba, Bolivia. As the vulture flies. If you drove 10 hours a day at the rate of 50 miles per hour, it would take you more than 11 days to get past that line of coffins. And that isn’t even allowing for bathroom breaks or stop signs.
I say this because I really want you to understand that that’s a lot. A whole lot. And so much of it could have been prevented. But we chose to politicize it instead.
Public Health should be considered a basic human right by all of us. It has nothing to do with your freedom to not wear a mask or your right not to be vaccinated. It’s about being a responsible human being on the planet earth.
If COVID-19 weren’t transmittable from one human to another, and you wanted to dive headfirst into a fetid pool of the stuff, I’d say have at it. I’d even provide you with the rubber duckie. You do have every right to be as stupid as you want to be. But in the case of COVID, you’d be diving headfirst into that pool and a long line of people, some who are less capable of swimming, some who don’t want to even get wet, some who have more important things to do with their time, would be tied to you against their will. You’re just yanking them in with you.
How dare you? Seriously. Explain it to me, because I don’t understand.
There are some basic health rules that everyone on the planet does their best to follow. For example, when is the last time you defecated on the turkey at your family’s Thanksgiving Day gathering? I’m guessing never. Because you’re not an animal. You’re civilized.
Aren’t you?
Health issues should not be mixed with politics, but they have been. As a result of that, I could go on and on with statistics that show that the more red the state or country, the more people have died of COVID, but you don’t want to hear me, do you? You just want to prove that you’re free.
It seems awfully self-destructive to want to be free to die a horrible death. That doesn’t bode well for the life of your political party. If it were only people who agreed with you politically who were dying off, then I wouldn’t be so upset. You all would have volunteered for it. But there are people out there who are dying without having made that choice. There are people dying who have tried to do everything to save themselves, and yet they have the misfortune of bumping into some idiot who wants to be “free”. It’s just not right.
And this is not the first time that the far right has not cared whether people live or die, and it won’t be the last. That’s what’s so truly terrifying about them. Their lack of caring even for their own.
If you read a very upsetting story that I wrote back in 2014, entitled How the Republicans Helped Kill My Boyfriend, you’ll notice a disturbing similar pattern. All I’m saying is that you may want to consider saving yourselves instead of trying to make some point. You can just think of the side benefit of saving humanity as an extra little perk.
The View from a Drawbridge 
What a different place the world would be if people’s ignorance and stupidity (clinging to ignorance) affected only themselves! Rest assured, I got my shots as soon as I could.
As did I. May everyone who wants to be safe not be sabotaged by those who do not.
Go to Greenland. No deaths or hospitalizations. Fewer ignorant, stupid voices being used to facilitate political agendas at the expense of everyone’s safety. https://visitgreenland.com/corona-faq/ Trump and minions really put the U.S. first… at the top of all the wrong lists. They’re the reason we’re #1 globally in covid cases and deaths even with all our medical tech and expertise. Make America great again: my a_s! So sick of the constant chaos they whip up. Battling natural and man made disasters is hard enough without these sociopaths throwing fuel on the fires. We need to shut them down as a preventive measure. Their words and actions are a clear and present danger to humanity and me personally. I’ve a condition that makes the vaccine risky and have been on continuous lockdown for 18 months because these people won’t even mask up. I’m using kn95 masks when I open the door for deliveries, but half the homecare people doing my errands show up unmasked or pull them beneath their noses while bragging they’re unvaxxed and never had childhood vaccines. They assume I’m against vaccinating even after I explain my medical contraindications and that I’m dependent on the efforts of others to protect me. I live in constant fear that one of these idiots will infect me. The hypocrisy of their assertion, that many make, that it’s their body, their choice, while attempting to strip women of their rights to choose, makes my stomach churn. Are we slowly inching into the handmaid’s world? Must be what they want.
Definitely not defending these idiotic politicians and anti-vaxxers, but in fairness, Greenland has a ridiculously low population density, with a population of 56,000. They have had 333 cases, and no deaths, and I’m sure their hospitals have not been overwhelmed, so it’s a bit of an unfair comparison. But you’re absolutely right. We’ve definitely mucked this situation up in this country and there’s no valid excuse. None at all. We should be ashamed. And I’m so sorry that you’re practically in prison due to others’ ignorance and selfishness. Distant, masked air hugs from here.
Their low density is the point. Fewer idiots infecting others. Their hospitals aren’t overwhelmed because they’ve done a good job with prevention. 42 infections per 100K is much safer than the U.S. at 355 per 100k for the last 7days. https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/greenland/ They also have a strict covid protocol for visitors. Nice to know where a sanctuary is if things get to be too much. Hope we don’t need to flee there to stay safe when the next variant rises. We’ll be covid refugees. Distant, masked air hugs back at you.