Our COVID-19 Stockholm Syndrome

Not long ago it was possible to go to a local restaurant and enjoy a meal, stop at a coffee shop and talk to people in a relaxed atmosphere, take kids to the park and watch them play or even go to work. All that came to an end when COVID-19 arrived. The entire state was, by order of the governor, locked down and residents subject to a shelter-in-place order.

The disease was real and treatment and cure unknown. Hope for a vaccine was dim and we were told it would be many years in the future if at all. Then came “Operation Warp Speed” and nine PRQWKV ODWHU WKH ¿UVW GRVHV RI YDFFLQH ZHUH DGPLQLVtered. (Thank you, Donald Trump.)

Today 36% of the population of California have had at least one dose of vaccine and 19% are fully vaccinated. These numbers include the highest-risk groups from which we had the most loss of life. The state average the past seven days is 103 deaths per day. That means that one person in every 388,000 is dying each day from COVID-19. In 2018, 736 people died every day from all causes in California. That is one person in 54,000.

Having put things in perspective with some hard numbers, why are we as a free, or should I say formerly free, people still going along with layer upon layer of bureaucratic restrictions?

State and local government with the help of a loud and frantic media used fear of COVID-19 to severely restrict individual freedom. Continuing to comply with regulations requiring masks and limiting assembly, in-person learning in schools, sports or entertainment would have all the symptoms of a society suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

Thomas L. Cadman Canyon Country