Let's Talk About How We Justify Our Actions in This Pandemic

Epidemiological Podcasts

Have you ever wondered why infectious diseases are a thing? I mean, why do people keep giving things like gonorrhea or HIV to each other? Why do we get colds? The reason here is that viruses and bacteria that cause disease have figured out that we humans just can't seem to stay away from each other and/or follow public health guidance.

This pandemic would have been over in a matter of weeks if we all would have just stayed home, worn masks and got tested. If we all cooperated with contact tracers, this thing would be a thing of the past like it is in New Zealand and other parts of the world where people did their part to follow recommendations. But no, not us. Or, rather, not U.S.

We will justify everything we did wrong in the pandemic by saying that we had to live our lives, that life is short, that businesses are people, or that one year off from school could prove fatal. Even as more than 300,000 people (and counting) are dead, we kind of just do what we do, and the novel coronavirus is laughing all the way to the bank.

Lucky for you, we have these things called vaccines, right?

So, no judgment and no talking down to you, I'm just going to put it out there that we are no better than one another in how we reacted to the pandemic.