I read a very depressing opinion column this week in the New York Times by Charles Blow, who argued that there will be no post-COVID return to normal…that our lives are forever transformed:
Covid has made us reconsider everything, the meaning of home and work, the value of public space, the magnitude and immediacy of death, what it truly means to be a member of a society.
We are still finding the answers to those questions, but the America we knew ended in 2019. This is a new one, scarred, struggling to its feet, dogged by moral and philosophical questions that on one hand have revealed its cruelty and on the other have forced it into metamorphosis.
I agree with the first paragraph and see that as one of the upsides to the pandemic: it is good to take stock of our lives and re-evaluate our priorities.
But that observation does not lead to the paragraph after. Even in California, politicians are saying enough is enough and that it is time to embrace the endemic rather than remain in a state of fear and trepidation.
Because that is the tradeoff. It is not the unknown that drives our public policy, but fear over it. Whatever that fine line is between fear and reasonable precaution, we see that COVID-19 will do what it will do, despite our best efforts (look at the recent surge of cases in vaccinated Europe, which took a far more cautious approach in the aggregate than did the United States).
After reading Blow’s column, I began formulating a response in my mind that used travel as a basis to re-engage in the world and drop the inane fear that pushes some to go running outdoors or drive alone in their cars with masks on.
But in a column far more articulate than I could ever pen, Andrew McCarthy responded to Blow in a New York Times column of his own with precisely the answer to fear that I also deduced: travel.
Maybe there’s another answer, one that is paradoxical to the narrative we’ve been living. Whatever the effectiveness of closing borders, there’s little doubt that it has succeeded in exacerbating our (not always) latent fear of the “other.” But isolation is a devil’s garden. Of course, due diligence and responsible behavior are required in such a fluid situation, but taking back our agency has its own rewards. With the proper precautions, travel may provide a most unlikely way out of this quagmire of fear in which we find ourselves.
The great travel writer Paul Theroux said that “travel is optimism in action.” Confronted with ever-changing restrictions, complicated and confusing testing protocols, and inconsistent messaging, travelers today need all the optimism they can muster. But reduced services and limitations that we have learned to take in stride at home during the pandemic have created in us an adaptability that is an ideal quality for the road. If you have a willingness to be flexible, the rewards of travel still await.
That’s beautiful and such prescient advice is a necessary antidote to the peusdo-intellectual fear peddled by Blow and his compatriots.
More and more, as I continue to travel the world (and have during the pandemic), I see the immense value of travel in promoting maturity, wisdom, empathy, and love. Those values do not come naturally, but must be sought out, just like most things worth pursuing. Travel is adventure and fun, but also work.
There’s also risk: we do increase our risk to illness when we venture outside. We increase many risks, as it turns out. But that’s the story of life: a story of risk. I tend to be more of a risk-taker than most (and it has come back to bite on occasion), but as we approach March 2022 we are in a very different place than March 2020.
We know a great deal more about COVID-19 and its various variants than we ever have. We now have a vaccine that works wonders in reducing symptoms of those who test positive. But even as we see that this persistent virus will not be eradicated like small pox, we can shelter the vulnerable while embracing a life that once again invites people into communion with one another rather than shields them from the sort of intercourse that is verily worthy of risk.
In our new world, the hospitals may get fuller during the colder months. So be it. We can prepare for it.
In our new world, we may need booster shots each year, just like our annual flu shots. So be it. We can be ready for it.
In our new world, we may face greater risk in engaging in commerce than we did before. So be it. We can each evaluate risks for ourselves and our families and act accordingly.
One of my greatest memories of the last two years was a funeral I attended in London in the darkest hour of the pandemic. At the outdoor ceremony, we spread out and wore masks. Receptions were not permitted at the time, but the kitchen door was left unlocked at the home of the widow. People just starting showing up, uninvited. One after another. Because when you encounter death and reflect on life, you need others close by.
Soon, we found ourselves sitting around the kitchen table, sharing memories of a great man and enjoying food and drink together. And this was not a band of renegade religious and political zealots who discounted COVID-19 as a common cold; the gathering included some of the best-educated men and women of London, many whom who were scientists (as was the man who died), yet still weighed the risk and determined that meeting was worth it.
The mainstream retort to such gatherings was always one of condemnation, that this could have been a super-spreader event and clogged hospital space for those who needed it most. Yes, that’s true. But there was also an invaluable need for the widow of the deceased, still shocked at the passing of her husband, to be comforted. And there was also a need to express our collective sorrow and love at that moment, not via a greeting card or text message or email.
I make no apologies for that meeting and if we are being honest with ourselves, most of us have our own stories of fellowship that occurred during the pandemic that were very much worth the risk.
In the years to come, we will only begin to understand the devastation our overreaction to the pandemic inflicted upon the most vulnerable among us: the children who were kept out of school, the elderly and hospital patients who were separated from loved ones and made to endure pain alone, and those who were forced to live in isolation for a “public emergency” that still has not ended.
We will return to “normal” because we want to return to normal. That should actually unite us, even if we disagree on how fast it should be. The last two years taught us the amazing spirit of human ingenuity that so quickly developed a vaccine. It also taught us that we need one another and those who have been at the forefront of rolling back restrictions cannot simply be dismissed as selfish miscreants, but humans who recognize our need for one another in every area of life.
There will be new variants and new surges to come. But now is not the time to cower in fear. Now is the time to strengthen what has atrophied and embrace the risk that is inherent in life. That is altruism, not selfishness. Now is the time to travel.
Watch Biden out of spite require 2 or 3 masks to travel.
He and the CDC are totally out of touch on this issue
Hasn’t really been Biden’s MO here – personally don’t mind the mask mandate on flights, but as vaccines continue to do their job, the world needs to open. And as more people continue to get vaxxed, it’s finally time to drop the mask mandates. Get your shot and explore the world
re: “… the world needs to open”.
What’s closed? I don’t do much anyway, as a homebody, but what’s not open now?
Do you mean vaccine confirmations or recent COVID negative tests, for attendance or admission?
um… all of Asia? Millions of first generation Asian Americans living in the US unable to return back to visit their families?
Right! I haven’t seen my grandkids in over 2 years.
David, are you serious? Are you on different continents?
“Now is not the time to cower in fear. Now is the time to strengthen what has atrophied and embrace the risk that is inherent in life.”
Amen.
Just wow. The best piece you have written by far, Matthew. Inspiring and articulate. Truly inspiring.
As far as Blow’s editorial, which I also read, I would say he and others enjoy the cocooning aspect of giving in to Covid. They like nesting. They don’t want to go back to the way it was. It all seems very convenient for them. He practically admits this throughout.
Wow, Andrew McCarthy. I am thinking most won’t even realize who he is, lol. What a brilliant piece he wrote. Not bad for an 80’s brat pack star who VH1 still rates as one of the top 40 heartthrobs in modern history. Of Cours, Weekend at Bernies was such a great movie!
Seriously, yes to your words, Matthew. And kudos for taking the stand that it’s time we get back on the horse like it’s 2019. I did it last year, 300 days traveling (at first reluctant necessity and later with gusto) and I feel fortunate and happy I did. We need this, for ourselves, for our children, for society.
Great article Matt. Still won’t make up for those who were healthy and who were never at risk and gave up 1-2 years of their travel lives out of fear. Who knows how many still are afraid to travel and regardless of what anyone says are still in fear. Hell we had a protest yesterday at a local college calling for mask mandates to be reinstated. You can fix stupid regardless of what you or anyone writes for those on the left who enjoyed the past 2 years of restrictions.
As for the flight mask mandate ending next month, I’ll believe it when I see it. That said I saw a decent amount of people walking around 3 airports without masks before their flights this week. The energy to yell at them by staff seems to be gone before boarding.
As an added bonus when we let er rip, in 5 years social security will be in great shape because all the boomers will be dead from covid
I don’t care if masks are mandated for eternity, like the stupid TSA 3.4 ounce liquid rule.
The testing mandate is what needs to end, today. Tests provide 0% protection from infection and transmission, have both false negatives and false positives, and guaranteed negative fake tests are sold in many countries.
Vaccines are highly effective, masks are somewhat effective, but tests are absolutely ineffective at preventing infection or spread.
Completely agree. If anything for the cost and logistics aspect. I have spent thousands on these tests prior to travel to meet requirements. Masks cost me little as to cost and convenience, I could care less if you make me wear one or if it works. But tracking down a testing facility with a quick turnaround for less than $200 to get back to the U.S. is absurd. A whole cottage industry of “testers” is emerging from it. It’s costly for the consumer and it’s not working. Let’s end it.
How have you spent thousands on tests for travel? Covid tests are free in the US and have been from the beginning. If you are paying, you are paying for convenience.
If you are paying that outside the US, just think of it as part of the cost of travel. If you are paying more than $50 for a test, look elsewhere. Even Heathrow offers rapid testing for just 25 GBP.
Testing for entry TO the US is now 24 hours. With little time due to schedule and meetings I am often scrambling to find someone to do them with that criteria. They are there. Yes. But at cost.
Further, for those tests in the U.S. to enter other countries, the same, even if three days. Sure, free, but wait and not be assured of results in time, especially during peak periods when we see surges.
Clearly you are not traveling a lot and thus under constant pressure for these timelines and testing. It’s a non-stop mess of scrambling and weighing risk/costs.
Minor nitpick but it’s one calendar day; if you can theoretically test Friday at 12.01AM you’ll be good to go for your Saturday 11:59PM US-bound flight, assuming direct flight. Though agree, this is a major hassle, espscially when Australia once looked bad for not letting its own citizens back in, here’s the USA doing the same thing.
Maybe find a business where you don’t have to leave this incredible country. Sounds like you are working to hurt American jobs with your flying to find cheaper materials for your own personal gain. Maybe look in the mirror and see what you are contributing to the downfall of the American economy with your greed. What was it JFK said?
Nitpick accepted. My point being a last minute change to fly home last Sunday from Munich (as an example) meant a scramble to find someone to test me Saturday. The cost, $200. Who knows if it’s accurate (though I often joke I could care less about accuracy, just give me negative and fast). This has been the standard for me for a year now.
Let’s face it, traveling for business is constantly in flux and testing is difficult and expensive to manage within. I go with it, but if we are ever to return to some sort of normalcy we have to make this less…umm, clunky?
@Dave Edwards Umm, I’m thinking, “Ich bin ein Berliner?”
“we can shelter the vulnerable while embracing a life that once again invites people into communion with one another”
What exactly does this look like? Because, along with the rest of the post, it seems to suggest that immuno-compromised people should remain isolated in perpetuity so that the rest of us can go out and do whatever we want without precautions.
Hopefully there will continue to be scientific breakthroughs to minimize this dilemma, but we must think in alternatives — your concern is valid, but at what cost do we promote this quasi-equality? What I’m proposing is not a “survival of the fittest” Darwinism, but encouraging those immuno-compromised brothers and sisters to avoid certain situations or wear N95 masks even when the rest of us don’t. Beyond that, utilitarian concerns must factor in, which also implicates vaccine mandates.
@Sco – Honest question: I often see the immunocompromised brought up as some defense against dropping restrictions, but this ignores the fact that they are susceptible to all manner of communicable diseases, not just covid. Their situation is challenging, and we should certainly be respectful and kind, but they navigated a world of sickness prior to this pandemic, and they’ll do so after as well.
Amen, Doug.
I’ll give you my own personal anecdote on this subject.
My dad had a heart transplant in 2000 and lived immunocompromised until he died in 2013. As a transplant survivor, typically harmless viruses to adults like CMV and RSV could potentially kill him dead just as effectively as coronavirus today. Never, though, was healthy society expected to inconvenience themselves for his sake, or that of other transplant survivors. He went back to work as soon as he felt able, and none of his coworkers were expected to wear masks just because he might be in the building. He took many vacations, including a couple of cruises, and no, the other passengers weren’t asked to take precautions or stay 6 feet away from him even though they could be asymptomatic carriers of viruses that could make him very sick. Until the very end, he wanted his kids and grandkids around him, and I can guarantee you, if he were alive today and someone tried to tell him that he needed to isolate from his family and stay home indefinitely “for his protection”, he would have told them to go fly a kite (though he would have used several expletives). Yes, he ended up back in the hospital every 3-4 months after catching something, but he made the personal decision that the risks outweighed the mental strain of isolation.
Which leads me to ask, are we even asking the right questions? Instead of asking if we need to shelter the vulnerable, do the immunocompromised even want the “protection” being offered in the name of safety? I’m not so sure you’ll get a consistent answer to that question.
What one person labels “fear” the person involved may say it’s rational risk/benefit evaluation. A lot of leisure travel is age 50+ people. A lot of my age bracket, just aren’t going back to The Before Times. We recognize that the risk is much higher for us of hospitalization and death.
Plus having taken a couple of years off, just have gotten out of the habit of globetrotting. My family and I used to be in Italy every summer, and often used points to design multi-segment itineraries so we could visit Iceland and other countries along the way. Frankly we also have the disruption in our lives of FUNERALS for family members (COVID-19!) and having to dispose of estate etc and the backwash from that is also going to disrupt some other families too. We will still travel, but it won’t be the frequent and carefree days prior to 2019, where we’d hop thru 3 or 4 countries it’ll be more like 1 or 2 countries every other year. And I’ll freely admit that a lot of my travel only broadened my viewpoint to a certain amount. I can enjoy a range of diverse academic chats in my University town brewery, I don’t need a bar in Keflavik or a restaurant in London to have that.
“Diverse academic chats”, lol. You mean worthless discussions between far left loons and further left freaks over craft beers dreaming of things that will never happen.
No wonder academia is being considered a waste of money by more and more intelligent people. The freaks have destroyed it and the old professors who can’t be fired contributed to it by pushing their failed dreams on the 60’s.
Why do you feel justified to launch this personal attack against a stranger? Would you do this sitting across the table from me?
Absolutely if you were publicly spewing this garbage in a public setting such as a bar or brewery. Good people have to call out nonsense when they hear it. Must have hit too close to home.
Curious what is your line of expertise? My neighborhood brewery has all types and I do like to talk to people. Few days ago met a nice fellow from Argentina, he works in Agriculture. On the surface you’d say we have nothing in common but we both speak Italian we got along well. I am a pediatric cardiac surgeon but I have a lot of interest in people and life. Perhaps not so much interest in Internet Tough Guy though, hope you add more value to life than just insulting people on the internet.
@Vicente If an academic you will recognize the futility in engaging people like Dave Edwards. He is here each day spewing xenophobic and racist bait in the comments. May I politely suggest ignoring him as most do. It’s what disturbs him the most. Eventually he will just wither away.
Like your buddy UA-NYC? He took his ball and went home, or died of all the hatred he had toward fellow Americans.
Unlike him, I don’t hate people I disagree with, but I do feel bad for them. And as for “Vincente” if that is his real name and really is a child doctor, he knows this was never a threat to kids. But it’s not in his best financial interest to admit it. Typical guy making money of the public in America instead of his families native land. Speaking a language of a land he won’t go back to. Instead he is here for the money because he is a greedy individual putting cash ahead of taking care of his people. And loved the good life u til his liberal fears got the best of him.
As for Stuart, you spew just as much garbage as you say I do, just on the opposite side. You think you are better than people who disagree with you because of your “education” but really it’s just you thinking you are elite and better than others. I’m not withering away anywhere, sorry pal.
Hey now, trolls will keep trolling, even if they end up using different names, just to get a rise out of people. And he is a master hateful troll.
I agree what what I think you are stating in general. The couching of common sense risk minimizing behaviors based on what we knew at any given time is hardly living in “fear”…that’s such a loaded term, rich in connotation that implies the image of trembling, cowardly, weak-willed people, too frozen in terror to be stand up for what’s right…ugh. Instead of everyday people just admitting,
“Hmmmm, there’s a communicable disease going around…don’t know how long you can have it before you know or before you can pass it on…some people get real sick and get better, some get real sick and go the hospital for *while* and get better, and some people get real sick, go to the hospital and die! And being out fat and out of shape never helps someone live longer when they are sick….so maybe I won’t go out in large groups, and I will wear a mask and expect others to the do the same when they go out…and I’ll stand sneeze distance away just in case….sounds reasonable to me…”
And the other risk minimizing policies to limit times for crowds to form *were the accommodation/compromise* to lower the chances (NOT guarantee!) of COVID picking up steam and running through a population like wildfire.
We had a damned pandemic going on (technically still do) and hindsight is thought to be 20/20. So we have people out there second guessing previous decisions and letting confirmation bias prove to them that of course “we were right that qwarantining and restricting out fredums were stoopid waists of time!!”
You aren’t a real man unless you throw caution to the wind and get sick. Nothing more alpha than hacking and wheezing and getting everyone around you sick. Try to avoid that? You must be a liberal pansy
As a 60+ traveler, I agree with Matthew Klint — we need to get back to normal lives already. Covid is here to stay. We will receive annual vaccines, much like we do with the flu. There are always risks; keeping everyone in masks is not the answer. Living in fear is not the answer.
Again, as a 60+ traveler, I look forward to getting back to the “before” times. I do not live in fear, nor do I want to live in fear. If, as an “older” traveler, I need to take some extra precautions, then so be it — but imposing those extra precautions upon the entire traveling public is irrational and unfair.
We hav similar names, but apparently approach Covid from very different perspectives….
Also wondering what @ Sco is wondering. Maybe Paxlovid will be the answer eventually. I hope so.
Totally onboard. Very nice. Thanks for writing this
My totally unscientific and unproven guess (and hope) is that there’s a good chance that Omicron will mkae way for an even milder variant, kind of how the Spanish Flu became an endemic in due time. We didn’t lock down over the 2018 flu outbreak, and at the time I didn’t even know we were in one.
We need to follow Norway’s lead on this one: No quarantine, no masks, no social distancing, no vax mandates (both citizens and tourists.) This is true travel freedom. Leftists like Norway, right?
Great post. Hopefully one that moves the chains for at least some of your readers. Seems many people are locked into their echo chamber and view a return to a 2019 version of normal as surrender.
Part of me understands this. If my job, life, allowed me to work from home and earn the same $$$ I’d be hesitant to return to normal as well. No commute, no dry cleaning bills, no water cooler BS. Had that been my life in March of 2020 it would have been far easier to dive head first into the pro-lockdown camp.
But I’m a nomad who hasn’t lived anywhere in almost 8 years with a job considered essential and requires extensive travel. The extent of my lockdown was house sitting for a friend for about 10 days.
It’s human nature to be biased in our evaluation of risk for ourselves and others based on what we perceive is in our own best interest. And to advocate for an outcome that best fits our own desires. I’d gladly argue that many of the people who are most vocal about maintaining the restrictions are acting in their own self interest to maintain an easier or more comfortable life than what they had in 2019. Maybe not even intentionally. I know for me the science and data often took a backseat to my personal desire to travel. Admitting it is the first step!
I’m nobody. No voice, no power, no say in what anyone or any entity does. But my sincere hope is that more people with a voice like you speak out to advocate for a return to what was once considered an inalienable right within a liberal democracy (small l small d)… the ability to travel. Or at least to have those who don’t want to travel to stop actively working against those of us who do.
I’m guessing you also feel that wearing a seat belt is “driving in fear” and having smoke alarms in your home means that you “sleep in fear”.
The simple fact is that taking smart and reasonable precautions is not a sign of fear, it’s a sign of intelligence. Campaigning against such precautions is a sign of…the opposite of intelligence.
You misunderstand the fundamental point of taking actions commensurate with actual risk, though you are more than welcome to continue to wear a mask for as long as you feel comfortable. I certainly find wearing a seatbelt or maintaining smoke alarms is a very minor cost for a very big return. Not so with masks. Dismissing that calculation as a lack of intelligence is itself a lack of intelligence.
So how does wearing a N95 mask, that we know is proven to protect one from both catching and transmitting respiratory viruses, in a closed indoor space such as the office or the airplane, has low returns and high cost? What is the cost to you other than an inconvenience? And is it really a low return to avoid catching a highly transmissible whose effects on our body and long-term health is not fully understood given its novelty?
Exactly because in todays politicized world, covering our mouths with a mask, which other societies have done for decades, is deemed an intrusion on our liberties.
We all thinks it’s inconvenient but this philosophical, moral, meta-…whatever you want to call it objection, just shows how entitled some of us are (even the supposed “apolitical”
@Pete, if you want to wear a mask to provide additional protection, no one is stopping you. You can wear one for the rest of your life if you so choose.
@SKG, I find N95 masks extremely uncomfortable when actually worn properly, but more importantly when I do business I like to look into the face of my vendor or customer in order to gauge honesty and sincerity. I don’t downplay the protective benefits N95 masks may provide, but I prefer to take my chances without one.
Please tell this to the doctors and nurses who are collapsing from exhaustion. Their situation has only gotten worse. Why not ask them if they think you’re right?
Oh, but I did. I am married to one. And my wife concurs with my assessment, as do many other nurses and doctors that I count as family and friends.
that is what is known as an anecdote.
You don’t see the irony in your statements at all?
Seriously…
No I do not. When I said to ask doctors and nurses, it was obviously implied on a much larger scale. Asking one’s wife about her situation and somehow equating that with what is going in Kentucky and Oklahoma is asinine. There are still many hospitals in this country with over 100% ICU occupancy. Like it or not, there are far too many in this country who are not vaccinated and we can’t just say it’s only their problem because their misguided inaction directly affects others, especially health care workers.
Then let them die. How about that?
They’re also getting paid. Well. I’ve had it with “woe to the poor medical folks” line. They are free to quit and do something else if it’s so unbearable. It’s a seller’s market for labor, after all. If they don’t quit, then it can’t really be all that bad.
Yea who needs em. Thoughts and prayers are all you need. Doctors… pheh!
We certainly need them, but we sure as hell shouldn’t be making policy decisions because they feel overwhelmed.
Right, policy decisions should cater to the loud and belligerent.
For example, since people upset about masks are constantly abusing flight attendants and restaurant hostesses, masks should be eliminated.
If you want to get your way, you must cause havoc. If worn out doctors want to get their way, they should band together and decide to harm their patients. Simple
Looks like the far left mask wearing crowd is coming after Matt. They must be sick over their liberal governors coming to the same conclusion.
Certainly not a good past week for the fear monger crowd. But then when was it a good week in most of their lives living and believing what they do?
I respectfully disagree with Matthew, whom I think has the best travel column around. Covid-19 is at its worst ever. The current peak is far higher than before. The number of deaths varies by country but is either high or very high compared to before. The virus doesn’t get tired or say “I’ve come across enough masks, I give up”. Now is the time to be extra cautious. Maybe the peak will get better in April?
Caution is wise because the consequences are great. True, the chance of death is lower if you are vaccinated. But serious long term problems may result in you asking “was that burger really worth it?”. Pulmonary fibrosis is rarely talked about, but it will be a problem. That’s lung scarring. Pulmonary fibrosis is a terrible way to die 15 years from now. You will choke and gasp for air, somewhat like COPD.
I view travel as not too much more risky than other risky behavior, like eating out or going to a rock concert. However, it’s still risky.
Bravo Matthew for a very thoughtful piece that injects nuance into a debate that too many people want to simplify.
I think part of the problem was also that “we” never said that conditions are necessary for a return to normal, i.e. what level of hospitalization and/or death is acceptable to society. I’ve heard some people say, “whatever the rate is when everyone is vaccinated”. This person happened to be pro-vaccine mandates and was okay with Austria style lockdowns for the unvaccinated. I don’t agree with this approach because it’s backwards–it emphasizes a policy vs the desired effect the policy is supposed to ultimately produce. However, I also don’t agree with the, “it’s just the flu” crowd mainly due to the hospital crowding issue. But that was in 2020. Now we have much better treatments and can plan for a winter surge.
I think you have it right. Protect the vulnerable and let everyone else go. We use this approach in many other spheres and I don’t see why it can’t apply here. Sure, the immunocompromised can’t be expected to isolate like it’s March 2020 forever, but the alternative(s) are much worse imho.
And I know an idiot that lost 2 years of his life believing in a stupid president, stupid CDC and stupid media. He never left his house and spent his time in fear and reading fake news on the internet. He lost 4 teeth because he was afraid to go to the dentist. His mental health will never be the same. Too bad for him!!! I live in a state that just announced that in the last 2 weeks more vaccinated people died from Covid than unvaccinated. Go figure. Masks have always been a total joke unless fitted N95 but the brainwashed think it works. Covid doesn’t get politicians or celebrities like we saw on the Super Bowl since they were all unmasked and socializing but kids still need to wear a mask to go to schools. The damage done in this generation will last for their lifetime. The only positive side is that by the time they get older the demented politicians that instilled fear in their lives will be long gone from this world.
Curious what fake news state you live in? Grateful for my education and ability to read and discern information for myself.
What fake news? You don’t need to believe in anything I share here. You are free to believe in whatever you want.
You’re right, he is an idiot, he should have bought a toothbrush. If you lose 4 teeth from not going to the dentist for two years you have some horrible hygiene problems.
Dude, he made that story up.
I could not care less if you believe me or not. But the story is true. The guy lives in Florida, he is 64yo and he literally freaked out because of Covid and with Florida not enforcing masks. You don’t need to have bad hygiene to have teeth problems. Somehow he got an infection and didn’t treat and yes he lost 4 teeth because he was so afraid to get Covid by going to the dentist. BTW, I think the dental clinic is the safest place in the world with all the measures they took to stay safe. If you want another true story, one of my wife’s best friend is a dermatologist. She shared a very sad story about a patient that got a mole of her foot during the pandemic and decided not to go see the doctor. Unfortunately she waited way too long since she was scared about Covid. When she did saw the doctor she had a pretty bad cancer which according to our friend was in very late stage and if she had gone to the doctor the day she saw the mole things would have been much different. Those are only 2 cases I know. How many more are there? Ask the disgraceful politicians.
1 person dead from untreated skin cancer > 5.8 million dead from covid
@BillyBob: stay under your rock. You belong there.
Ok, I’ll see ya there
Which state?
You can’t accept others disagree with your thoughts and quickly label them trolls and liars. You refuse to accept that others are successful in life and live their life in a different way than you have been programmed to. And that people actually believe in the things we post and are from experience. Some of us are America first and foremost, it doesn’t make us “racists” or haters. It’s just your defense mechanism to be able to not accept their views and opinions are legitimate.
You have no clue if Santiago is lying or not, but his experience don’t work for you so you call him a liar. Why are you able to call him a liar but others can’t call out nonsense in your world?
Anyone can easily see you are a far left liberal based on who you attack. And it’s fine if you choose to live your life as an elite thinking you are better than others. I don’t think I’m anything special and what I have in life I gained through hard work and anyone with work ethic and common sense could have done the same. And that scares people like you. That there are people like me out there retired early, own homes in multiple states and travel for pleasure 100,000+ miles a year. And I’m as real as they come, there is nothing I post that I don’t believe. Sorry if that doesn’t work with how your life is but I won’t call you are troop for your constant negative attacks on others Aaron.
Love the post and always appreciate the optimism. On substance, I disagree. To all who have refrained from international travel over the past two years, stay scared and visit a national park – many of them are truly wonderful. I stopped traveling from April through June 2020. Since then I’ve been fortunate to have some of my most enjoyable and rewarding travel with limited crowds. Remote work has forever changed my travel patterns and allows for longer stretches away than prior to 2020. I don’t mind wearing a mask. Happy to be tested. Small price to pay for thinning out the Chinese tour groups and American parents with perfectly unbearable children.
Hi Miamiorbust – bravo for you. I’m truly happy you are content being a hermit. Just please let the rest of us go about our lives. We will never run into you and that works well for both of us.
To really reactivate travel, testing, quarantine and vaccine mandates need to end.
It’s not fear that’s preventing travel, but rather these inane requirements and mandates.
Even one of the top travel agencies in Bali said as much the other day, people don’t want to extend their holidays, and related costs, due to these restrictions.
In our new world, I said two years ago that we should not panic; that we should learn to live with this virus without overreacting; and gave what I thought were cogent reasons for questioning the advice of so-called “leaders” and “experts. So be it. We should have been prepared for it.
I am glad that more people are realizing that the overreaction to this virus has done far more harm than good. That is the only way we can return to some semblance of normalcy.
That is a problem when such vague terms are thrown about: what is an overreaction? That when something is instituted for public health and that it inconveniences you, that is an “overreaction”? That when people fear catching a virus that has caused millions of deaths and the possibility of life-long degraded health due to Long COVID, that is also an “overreaction”?
Brian Cohen much like Matthew is a right wing nut bag attempting to portray himself as a genteel centrist only listening to “logic”. As a side note Brian Cohen also likes racist monuments to Confederate generals.
When a person has no substantive argument, they resort to ad hominem attacks. Nice one.
I completely agree! Great story, Matthew!
Good blog post on this topic. As a professional risk manager, one of the most interesting things I’ve seen out of the reactions to Covid is that there are so many armchair quarterbacks. Everyone is an expert on NOISH air filtration, everyone is an expert on PPE (wearing masks or gloves) or hand washing. It’s insane. To walk into a store and see spots on the floor where you are supposed to stand because someone was playing scientist is crazy. I think we should give awards for all this. The airlines clearly won the day. They managed to convince everyone that even though it wasn’t safe to go to the local grocery store it was totally safe to be on an airplane together throughout the darkest days of fear and peaks of the various variants. Award for losers would include cruise lines that had the unfortunate luck to have early outbreaks on board that could be contact traced (unlike shorter airplane trips). They also came under the gun for not being US-flagged but mostly US-based. The CDC had a field day. The media loved it because they already enjoyed calling them floating Petri dishes due to Norovirus because it always made good press. How about a media darling award for Dr. Fauci, I’m sure his wallet didn’t suffer. Maybe a Nostradamus award to the movie “Contagion” that saw this all coming. How about an award for “best timing” by the FDA for stalling the Operation Warp Speed vaccine emergency approval one week before the Presidential elections.
We are now left to suffer the fallout. I just returned from a long road trip through the Southeast US. It was fun to see folks from the Blue states show up at a truck stop or hotel all masked up with KN95 masks only to find that less than 1% of the people there would even think of wearing a mask again. I was at a Buccees South of Atlanta on Sunday with no less than 1,000 people inside. It was insane. Many clearly driving home from Disney. It was hard to find someone with a mask on. Did anyone get sick from that? I would assume someone will. Could they die? Sure. It’s like the seatbelt and smoke detector comment above. What is your risk appetite? If I told you that you could live to be 100 with nearly no risk of ever being sick but you’d have to live in a plastic bubble would you do that? How about never getting in a car, truck, bus, train, or airplane again because it’s risky? It’s time to move on. Seek Jesus he is the one who heals.
That might mean that drunk driving is not too dangerous. Most drunk drivers either get home in one piece or just have a minor dent in the car.
On the other hand, one city’s tree code makes it so difficult to cut down a tree, even a diseased tree, that it has to be dead before cutting down (or fallen and damaged a house). So far nobody has died but in the next city, someone did die from a tree.
We have an oak tree ordinance in our town and ran into a similar issue…
Thanks! I feel the comments section here is best when you fight hyperbole with hyperbole and anecdotal opinions with the same. Also when you write something as pompous and arrogant like the work of drivel above you make your self fair game to withering dissent or mockery. That only goes for you however, Mr Cohen is a toad of the highest order and deserves no mitigation.
I’ll qualify this as slightly selective. My first flight during Covid was October 2020, and I fly with very regular frequency.
Vaccines should be mandatory when applicable. But I will also argue that it would be nice if masks stay as part of our air travel experience.
Every year for my adult life, I’ve been constantly traveling. The last two years are the first times I’ve done so, yet not caught seasonal influenza. That is appreciably nice. Like, nice enough that I wish this would continue.
Border controls and mandatory PCR testing should stop and travel should reopen, but precautions against disease… do you really want a reminder of how ineffective the flu vaccine was?
“Vaccines should be mandatory when applicable.” Could you please further elaborate on your statement? First let me tell you that I am fully vaccinated so I am anti vaccine at all but your statement makes me scratch my head. There is absolutely no correlation in vaccines and transmission of Covid. We all know that vaccinated people will transmit Covid the same as unvaccinated ones. The stupid Governor of MN where I live just dropped his mandate that people needed to show proof of vaccination to enter in restaurants and sports venues. Why? Because he realized his mandate was stupid and made no sense. At the same time, the local paper here just last weekend published a front page article that in the last 2 weeks, more vaccinated people died from Covid in MN than unvaccinated.
Thus, your statement that vaccines should be mandatory makes absolutely no sense. It should be a personal decision since it appears that vaccines are helpful to reduce the symptoms of Covid and reduce deaths but have absolutely zero effect on reducing transmission.
That was the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, not the state governor. Minnesota’s statewide peacetime emergency was ended in July.
Yes, all 3 are stupid. As for the Governor, Covid was so important that he gave up his emergency power when the Senate told him they wouldn’t approve his budget. So much for following science.
Agreed that vaccines don’t prevent transmission, they reduce acute hospitalization stays and death. I’m biased because I work for a hospital, but regardless, healthcare burnout affects everyone who comes in the doors when they need care most.
My issue with “it’s my personal decision” is that someone else has to care for you when you get critically sick, and you are taking the hospitalists / RNs and clinical staff for granted. It’s a low-empathy sort of response without thinking about the consequence of these individual decisions.
As to your uncited newspaper’s hot take, I’m not sure what to tell you without more context. Was it true in absolute terms, but relative to vax vs unvaxxed, the percentages of death were far better? Did they cherry pick which two weeks supported that position? Has it been true all along? Why is there not more news about this, if MN really cracked the code?
There’s a world of evidence that says mortality is far lower if vaccinated and boosted, but if you’re going to look at a single newspaper article that shows one bit of contrary evidence to develop your world view… I’m probably not going to change your opinion.
(I realize I use “you”, but Santastico is vaccinated. So imagine it’s positioned towards someone who wasn’t, but elective choice and not a good medical reason or age.)
Be careful or else the Metropolitan Police will be sending you a questionaire….
I would just support an elimination of the need for a negative test within 48 hours if you show proof of vaccination. I’m not a big fan of wearing a mask (I don’t believe the blue tissue masks are very effective), but wear one when I have to. But the risk if getting quarantined for a week or two while abroad is concerning.
I don’t have the time to absorb the 80 posts above. So, please excuse me if someone above has addressed this, but I have to ask: why does this have to become part of a culture war? I fundamentally do not understand this.
Short version:
1. Everyone has the intrinsic belief that they self-govern best. (“I survived this long with only my wits.”)
2. The CDC repeatedly squandered their credibility during the pandemic. I would say that applies to the government, both parties included.
3. So it became a money play for news organizations to grab attention, downplay truths, and opine on the best way out of this based on crappy data and anecdotes.
The resulting mess ensues.
Hi Matthew – I love reading about people who won’t fly due to what is now clearly just the common flu. They can stay locked up for the rest of their lives for all I care (while the rest of us are better off without their presence).
You are right – it’s time to open up – and return to 2018 while we laugh and point at those wearing masks and try in vain to control the rest of us. The fact that some people think this small blip in world history (aka the “pandemic”) is a major shift in the world’s trajectory is laughable. They are at the height of self-importance and their attitude of knowing better than the rest of us exposes them for what they are: tyrants. Fortunately they are being left behind.