It should be clear cut.
America was rebounding from the challenges that COVID-19 brought earlier this year. There were positive vibes rippling throughout the country.
More people were being vaccinated in record numbers every day. Businesses we're re-opening. Masks were not needed if we were fully vaccinated.
Then the Delta Variant struck
It came like a thief in the night and nearly all of the progress made against the pandemic was lost.
The death toll among the unvaccinated went from just a few cases across the country in several months - to over 100,000 a day nationally.
The Delta Variant turned out to be more contagious and more severe than the original COVID-19.
Inject partisan politics and mass disinformation campaigns and the result has been chaos.
The CDC had to issue new masking regulations because of the new challenges the Delta Variant is presenting.
Among the most challenged guidance is that vaccinated people have to wear masks again inside. It turns out they can infect others in this new reality.
However, this new guideline has been a river too far for Republicans, and some Democrats. Science deniers have seized on the change as proof the CDC doesn't know what its talking about.
Despite the explanation above, conspiracy theorists are using the changing rules as a cudgel against the CDC.
The worst part is that we've lost a lot of the progress made against the virus, and it's looking like last year as the infections continue to grow daily.
Because we live in a polarized country there's no unified effort to combat the variant. Being unvaccinated has become a badge of honor for Trump followers.
Now we're seeing people who are vaccinated getting pissed off at others who aren't following safety guidelines.
This toxic atmosphere in our society, while facing the biggest health challenge in 100 years, is crippling the country.
The confusion and chaos must end, or else democracy will.
No comments:
Post a Comment