By Jennifer Hibbard, Staff Writer/Editor
BACKWARD: Instead of trying to stop the spread of COVID-19, Americans have made living under the constant threat of the virus their “new normal.”
The land of the free, the home of the brave, a fountain of innovation, and supposedly the greatest nation in the world. Surely a virus should be no match for a country with such an impressive reputation. Unfortunately, the past six months have clearly shown that this is far from the truth. The COVID-19 pandemic has left over two hundred thousand dead and American citizens feeling fearful and divided. How is it that the United States is lagging tragically behind the rest of the industrialized world in its response to the novel coronavirus?
Aside from a failed initial response from the federal government, part of the responsibility for our abysmal situation falls onto the shoulders of the American people. As the pandemic ravages our country, it seems that people are willing to fight everyone and everything except COVID-19. This twisted mentality is the exact reason why our country is in such poor condition. Instead of coming together to fight this virus, Americans have shrugged their shoulders at it and proceeded to find ways to divide themselves further. The presence or absence of a mask on someone’s face has become a political statement, young people are betting money on who will contract COVID-19 first at giant house parties, and protesters are taking to the streets to demand premature reopenings. But, of course, all of that is okay. The virus is just “the new normal.”
Normalizing living under the constant threat of serious illness is the single greatest mistake American society as a whole has made since the pandemic began. Thinking of a crisis like this as something that should be accepted and moved on from breeds ignorance, cruelty, and a total lack of consideration for others. Giving up on the pandemic ignores the millions of vulnerable elders and those with preexisting medical conditions whose lives may swiftly end after contracting coronavirus. It facilitates a culture of selfish cruelty that casts these people to the side, deeming them unworthy of protection.
Yet, six months into the pandemic, there are over 6.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States alone. Six months into the pandemic, and the official U.S. death toll is at 194,000 and climbing. According to the CDC, the spread of the novel coronavirus could be under control in four to six weeks if everyone followed directions and wore masks. But, six months into the pandemic, Americans still cannot find it within themselves to do what is right, even in the face of evidence telling them that their efforts would not be in vain.
It is clear — we can stop this if we want to. We can end this disastrous pandemic if we all do the bare minimum of wearing a piece of cloth over our mouths and noses. The thought of this chaos and suffering being our “new normal” is a cop-out, plain and simple. It is a mantra for lazy people who have given up on the fight against the virus because turning a blind eye to the devastation it has wreaked on our country is more convenient.
Some of these people believe that wearing a mask doesn’t matter. After all, in a few months’ time, they think a vaccine will be the deus ex machina that wakes us all from our living nightmare. However, the recent halting of the Moderna-Astrazeneca vaccine trials due to a potentially serious side-effect should serve as a sobering wake up call. There is a very real possibility that there will be no miracle end to the COVID-19 pandemic. We cannot sit back and wait for scientists to fix our problems while we ignore their advice. We as individuals have a role to play in this crisis, and it is a role that we cannot afford to neglect, because this should not be our “new normal.”
To learn more about COVID-19, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html