COVID Hysteria– The Next Wave Of Ignorance, Fear, And Blame

The second tsunami of panic has arrived.  Not only has COVID not faded and disappeared, but it has morphed into a new, morbid variant.  What is even more fear-inspiring, it has been joined in a perfect storm by influenza and RSV, a heretofore unknown pulmonary virus.

Ever since the appearance of COVID in early 2020, there has been a very predictable reaction to the disease – a spectrum of responses ranging from the totally spooked to the cavalier with most people falling somewhere in between.  The spooked took the most exaggerated precautions – spraying all mail, quarantining it for three days, and then opening it only in special, hermetically sealed, anti-microbial fogged compartments.  The anthrax scare redux, an outbreak of unimaginable proportions from Aunt Sally’s letters.

The scared and worried stopped shopping and had all foods delivered, and these too were quarantined, detoxified, and fumigated; handled with Level 5 Hazard care – tongs, rubber gloves, triple-sealed masks and aprons.  Cooking was done in full biohazard dress using strict precautionary measures.

Homes were equipped with industrial-strength air purifiers, all surfaces scrubbed and coated with lye and wiped with hospital-grade antibiotic fluid.  Residents stayed home behind sealed doors and windows in hermetically closed rooms.  Venturing outside was forbidden except at 3am into back gardens.

As people got used to the pandemic and realized that the information and advice coming from the CDC and its spokesman, Anthony Fauci were wobbly and scare-mongering, they relaxed their guard, began to go out more, assume personal responsibility for risk, and resume their lives.  As they did, cadres of vigilantes – men, women, and especially children – deployed into the neighborhoods calling out those who wore no masks or did not socially distance.  It was a j’accuse time, a penitential, demanding, sanctimonious one.

Even that was mitigated by the arrival of vaccines and the eventual attenuation of the virus; but at each of Fauci’s ex cathedra pronouncements about new variants, the spooked became even more so, and when it became known that the vaccines provided only partial protection, they returned to their hermetic, risk-averse life.

By this time, the public had had enough, realized that for the most part COVID represented a bad cold at worst, and went on with their business.  They went out, had a few beers with friends, returned to the gym, and caught COVID, hacked and coughed for a few days, and got over it.

Now, just as masks have become a second thought, the horrible triad of new infections arrives.  Now, more than ever, said the spooked, it was time to be responsible, to be considerate, compassionate, and caring.  Avoid crowds, test yourself frequently, and increase precautions.  It is one thing to be wary of COVID, another to be wary of influenza and RSV.

As with any perceived or imagined threat, responses fall on a curve – spooked to cavalier – but now, after three years of COVID, most people are either well under the hump or on the easygoing asymptotic end. Yet there are a very few whose timid risk aversion has only gotten worse.  ‘Immune system compromise’ is a cover for abject worry, an unreal fear of death, and a conviction that even God’s will can be dampened or altogether resisted.  Death is not certain, these people claim; or if it is, not now, not while we have control, and not on our watch.

The illogic of the response is ignored by them.  Get tested! the cry of the convinced means little.  One worrier tested negative before she went to the busiest airport in the country, was packed like a sardine in the back of the plane, caught COVID when she slid her mask down to have a Coke, arrived in all her sanctimony and assumed health, and promptly gave COVID to her family. 

Another worrier did the right thing, tested negative before leaving the house for a Christmas family gathering in Connecticut and proceeded to get COVID from her nephew who had also tested negative but who had picked up the virus in pre-school two days before his test. 

What’s a mother to do?

What’s behind COVID hysteria? What causes fear and trembling in otherwise sane and rational adults?  It can’t be the disease itself, far more benign that cancer, heart disease, pathogenic pulmonary distress, or any number of other life-threatening illnesses.  It can’t be the ‘immune thing’, for even those with some compromise do well if they are quadruple vaccinated.  It can’t be concern for others – the panic to test and isolate is far more self-serving that considerate and compassionate despite the progressive meme to the contrary. 

When the spooked are mapped by socio-economic and geographical variables, it is the best educated, agnostic, urban dwellers who are the most afraid.  Those who believe that God will provide, or at least that there is a modicum of divine oversight in life, are less afraid.  Not exactly que sera sera unreflective believers, they are still accepting of fate.  Death comes to all and a good death is all one can hope for.  These Left-pilloried Bible-thumpers of the South are the most stable, the most rational, and the most well-prepared to meet the virus than anyone.

The old ‘Thank you, Dr. Fauci’ signs are still on the lawns of upper middle class, progressive families.  He was the St. Paul of modern times, the evangelist who brought Jesus and Christianity to the unbelieving world.  Home owner now straighten the signs, clean off the bird droppings, and anchor them well.  Even as he acknowledges ‘pandemic fatigue’, he keeps up the drumbeat of vigilance.  This may not be the big one, but it is close.  Of course, the more he beats the drums, the more they become background, irritating elevator music that no one notices.  “I am  Cassandra”, he admitted to MSNBC, the Greek woman whose warnings of disaster were ignored and the world paid the price.

So Betty Lou from Portland, armed with her negative COVID test and dressed to the gills in protective masks, gloves, and outerwear got COVID anyway from someone on Delta, gave it to her family, and wondered how it all happened.  “I did all the right things”, she said ignoring the obvious.  “It really wasn’t my fault”, and there’s the rub.  Not only have these COVID hysterics added to the unease of ordinary people, they have sown suspicion and doubt.  Blaming others is about the only way to ignore the irrational idea of outwitting a pandemic.