2021: It’s been a long year

The Covid-19 has been cruel to the world in 2021, and in a sense, global governments have reacted “cruelly.” efforts to place blame on government for not curing the disease is unfair. Of course, there may more “Covid Pandemic experts” on social media than there are actual cases. But no absolute solution has been found. What seems to work in one place does not work in another country. Then a massive blame game begins.

Most of the 7 billion people on the planet are weary, frustrated, and angry after a year of this ongoing situation. Humans are by nature inclined to give whatever is the cultural equivalent of The Middle Finger and slap the side of the head of whoever creates a problem. How many invading movie aliens have had to deal with some “pissed-off” human?

Perhaps a large part of the weariness, frustration, and resentment is that we all feel helpless. You can be doing “everything” according to the transmission control protocol, and somebody else is loose with social distancing, sneezes, and you spend the next week worrying about getting sick.

Many questions are unanswered. Why does Peru have by far the greatest number of deaths per capita while imposing one of the longest lockdown periods? But a poorer country in terms of wealth and environment—nicaragua—has one of the lowest cases and deaths per capita equal to Hong Kong.

No wonder our collective mental health is in the proverbial toilet. Global cases began increasing in November 2020 and peaked in January, allowing us a moment of relief. Then another wave (pick whatever number you wish) comes and we hit what looks like another peak of cases at the beginning of May.

But then about a month ago, the headlines were screaming “Delta Variant” just as we were starting to see some light by being vaccinated. Now we are told that the vaccines are 100 percent effective and 100 percent safe, except when they are not safe or effective.

The most used health protocol against getting sick from the virus has been “The Lockdown,” more kindly known as “Community Quarantine.” This is the science behind that rule. “Lockdowns have saved lives by reducing the physical interactions between infected and uninfected people, which in turn reduces transmission and the number of people infected with SARS-COV-2.”

How about this science? “Not driving or riding in an automobile significantly reduces the chance of dying in a traffic accident.” But as with “Community Quarantine,” nothing is 100 percent certain. “An analysis of data reported by State Highway Safety Offices shows that 6,721 pedestrians were killed on US roads in 2020, up 4.8 percent from 6,412 fatalities in 2019. That’s about one death every 92 minutes.”

These are 2021 headlines in no particular order. March 17, 2021: “Jordan uses tear gas to clamp down on anti-lockdown protesters.” July 11, 2021: “Brighton vaccine center forced to cancel jabs after anti-lockdown protest.” July 3, 2021: “More than 300 people demonstrating against Covid-19 restrictions marched through the center of Dublin today.”

July 27, 2021: “Sydney anti-lockdown protesters charged with animal cruelty after punching police horse.” It is still going to be a long year.