As we root for pandemic to wane, civic cohesion crucial

Pandemics don’t end on one specific day, but I think Marin County is getting closer and closer.

The COVID-19 virus is the oncein-a-lifetime epidemic that has killed 762,000 Americans and 5 million humans worldwide. The frustrating reality for the planet is that pandemics don’t end on one specific day. To paraphrase and repurpose one of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s sayings, pandemics just fade away.

To say that the 2019-21 pandemic is petering out may not be accurate in “red state” America where vaccine skepticism is a symptom of one’s political selfidentity. Nor is it past in Russia and undeveloped portions of Africa where the virus continues to run rampant. But for the most part, I think its serious impacts are past for most Marinites, coastal Californians, “blue state” Americans, some parts of Europe, those from Down Under and other science-oriented developed parts of the world.

The U.S. is unique among nations in that COVID-19’s spread and rates of death and infection relate directly to a state or region’s dominant political party. That embarrassment will long stain American history. The redblue political divide is exemplified by a Gallup Poll finding 83% of Democrats with children under 12 aim to have their kids vaccinated against COVID. The number drops to 50% for independents and to only 21% of Republicans with smaller children.

Due to first class efforts by the Marin Department of Health and Human Services, the medical community, along with civic and religious leaders in the

Black and Latino communities, deep-blue Marin has achieved an accomplishment unlikely to be replicated elsewhere.

Of Marin’s 244,163 vaccineeligible residents 12 and over, more than 93% have received at least one shot and more than 84% have the full vaccine series. The ethnic-racial breakdown is: Latino residents, 89%; Asian, 87%; White, 81% and Black, 79%. Surrounding Bay Area counties similarly have achieved rates of vaccination unknown in much of rural America.

Understand that COVID-19, like the flu, will be a permanent fact of life. We now need to make individual decisions as to the risks we’re willing to endure and the inconveniences we will accept going forward. There are many Marinites who view these choices with trepidation.

Civic cohesion demands that we be non-judgmental of those making conclusions different from those we make. Some will mask up everywhere, avoid large gatherings and be virus vigilant. Others, regardless of political allegiance, will conclude masks should be used only where the unvaccinated gather and that attending in-person meetings and social events are risks worth taking.

It’s premature for Californians to go cold turkey, ending all pandemic-era regulations. Proof of vaccination to enter public spaces should remain through 2022.

In America, competing “rights” are common. The unvaccinated exercised their right. The vaccinated have their right to avoid being placed at risk by being in proximity to those with the highest propensity to transmit the deadly disease.

While the petering out of an epidemic or even a policy divide isn’t satisfying, it’s common in many fields.

Until recently, the very notion of climate change and the reality that it’s propelled by human action was contentious. Pushed by fossil fuel industries, populist politicians and portions of the media, the dispute seemed interminable.

Now, the world’s weather is obviously ajar. Corporate America, the U.S. military and most of the world acknowledge the dangers emanating from human-caused climate change, many of the doubters are silent.

The political left looked forward to the day when climate change skeptics and vaccine deniers admitted the error of their ways.

That’s never going to happen. Climate activists should accept acquiescence as victory and move on.

When taking actions to save the planet, respect the past deniers and jettison the progressive lingo no matter how selfsatisfying. Call efforts to limit deadly carbon emissions, protect shorelines from rising seas and forests from exploding fires due to drier summers, “resiliency” projects. Framing the issue in a non-threatening manner will be reluctantly accepted by red state America.