COVIDnesia

Serious question: Has a good majority of this country completely blocked COVID out of their memories? 

I ask this, because during election season, Donald Trump and other Republican politicians kept asking, "Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago?" 

When I first heard this, my immediate thought was, "Of course we're better off! Do you think we're f*cking stupid?!? We were going through the worst pandemic in a century 4 years ago!"

Well, sadly, in answer to my question, we are f*cking stupid - that or we've completely blocked out the traumatic event which was COVID.

The years 2020 and 2021 were quite the surreal experience. Since I doubt any of us were alive during the Spanish flu, COVID was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Perhaps that's part of it. People think this kind of thing only happens once in a century and they won't have to worry about it again, so why think about it more than is required? How can we forget, though?

I remember 4 years ago. I remember two non-blood relatives of mine dying of COVID. I remember a friend of mine going into a coma, because of said virus. I remember another friend of mine being hospitalized by it, and a friend of his passing away from it. It was as if the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon became the Two Degrees of COVID. Hospitals were filled over capacity. Scientists were trying to release efficient vaccines to the masses. The CDC was attempting to get ahead of the learning curve, on what measures to enact in order to reduce the circulation of the virus. Grocery stores were empty. Tens of millions were out of work. Delivery drivers were perhaps the busiest people in the country. Schools went from in-person to online-learning. Governors differed on their methods of safety: some imposing mask mandates, others not doing so, some implementing curfews or state lockdowns, while others decided to not go that route. Over a million people died in a fairly short period of time from the virus. It was, without question, the most frightening time in this country's history for a lot of people. That's what life was 4 years ago. How can ANYONE suggest life was better then than it is now? Simple answer, they can't.

What I also explicitly remember from 4 years ago was then "president" Donald Trump, his rhetoric, his (in)action during the worst pandemic in 100 years. Trump didn't take it seriously. At first, he was going, "Oh, we've only got 5 cases. It'll go away with the warmer weather." Then it was, "Nothing to worry about, it'll go away with the changing of the seasons." This kind of nonsensical, not to mention dangerous, rhetoric was a constant during one of the most frightening times in our country's history. The guy claimed not once, not twice, not even 37, but 38 times that COVID would somehow vanish into thin air. Donald Trump suggested injecting disinfectant could potentially rid a person of the virus. He recommended anti-parasitic drugs for COVID. Doctors, who were busy enough as it was in trying to save hundreds of thousands of people, had to save some time to refute all of Trump's possibly lethal non-doctorly advice. On top of all this, Trump refused to wear masks, at least in public, because that would appear unmanly, for some stupid reason. Yeah, ask Herman Cain about that. Whatever the CDC recommended, Trump went the opposite direction. Wear masks at events and leave enough space between people, so circulation is condensed? Trump's translation to that was, "No masks allowed! Oh, and squeeze as many people into a setting as possible!" Donald Trump was a horrible role model during COVID, and an even worse leader. Did he take charge at all during the worst pandemic of our lives? Nope. He ignored all responsibilities; did everything in his power to kill all Americans with his irresponsible behavior and rhetoric; and then said, "Leave it up to the states." The states did wind up taking action, but only as a last resort - when they finally realized Trump wasn't going to do anything. 40 out of 50 states implemented some degree of a lockdown as the result of Trump's inaction. This resulted in tens of millions of job losses. When said lockdowns were lifted, supply could not come close to matching demand - due to the tens of millions of former workers being unemployed - and this resulted in the highest inflation in 40 years. 

So, again, "Are we better off today than we were 4 years ago?" F*CK YES!!!