We are in the final days of 2020. There was never any need for the novel coronavirus to spread as widely as it has, nor was there any reason for so many people to become infected that the virus has been given millions of chances to mutate. Nevertheless, it’s happened, and it’s going to continue to happen through the early part of 2021, and it’s happened because of stupidity.
Stupidity can manifest in national governments which are promoting conspiracy theory to protect politicians who have made terrible choices. This has been recently demonstrated in the United States by former Presidential candidate Marco Rubio:
It’s worth noting that Rubio, a Senator, made this tweet only after receiving a vaccination himself. It plays to the notions promoted by the President that masks were unnecessary and that “herd immunity” is a valid alternative to mass vaccination. In reality, the “lie about masks” was an effort to direct a limited number of masks – limited because of incompetence on the part of the administration – to health care workers rather than deplete availability due to the general populace. Rubio is just one of many who has continued to foster ignorance in pursuit of the votes of Trumpists and anti-vaxxers, and it is harming the country and taking lives.
Stupidity also comes into play when nations intentionally misinform their populace… such as the recent revelation that Russia has been reducing their death and infection tolls by at least 2/3. It provides the illusion that the country is strong, but it inspires a false confidence in the population that leaves the people susceptible to infection.
Stupidity can also be seen in slow reactions to known issues. The U.S. is again represented here, with a much slower vaccination rollout than anticipated. While 20 million vaccinations were promised by the first of the year, the CDC admitted on December 23 that it had just passed the 1 million mark, and yesterday recognized 2 million injections. While a million over the course of a week is admirable, it is far short of expectations and an indication of almost complete incompetence at the top of the chain of command.
It can also be seen in Japan, where only after an Upper House member (their equivalent of a Senator) died at age 53 due to COVID-19 related symptoms on the 27th have they fast-tracked necessary modifications to their COVID-19 laws.
Responsibilities don’t simply rest with the governments, though. If anything, governments tend to bear less responsibility than average people, because people, not governments, are the ones who are catching the disease. It is everyone’s job to try not simply to avoid contracting COVID-19 but to assume at all times that they have it and must try to not pass it to others.
These basic disconnects – that it’s someone else’s responsibility to deal with the virus and that if people currently feel well (or at least functional) that they have no inherent duty to protect others have been leading to continued problems worldwide, and new stories surface every day.
Sydney, Australia’s Bondi Beach drew hundreds of visitors on Christmas Day, despite a growth in cases there and strict measures to minimize transmission. The police broke it up when it was reported. The government did its job, but the populace, both local and tourist, were stupid.
Then there was Switzerland, where an upscale ski resort popular with the British, Verbier, was emptied overnight as more than three hundred guests fled coronavirus restrictions. They’d been informed that a two-week quarantine was to start in the morning, with the guests being restricted to their rooms for the duration (although fully supplied with all amenities and with food delivered to their doors.)
And, yes, the United States has its own standouts for stupid behavior, such as the television and movie studio favorite Italian restaurant La Scala attempting to skirt the law against restaurant gatherings in Los Angeles amidst their massive breakout.
While La Scala is not in Los Angeles proper, its area of Burbank is in Los Angeles County and is subject to the current restrictions. The discrepancy between the county and the city is being used by some to imply that what they were doing might not be illegal (it was), because La Scala caters heavily to the wealthy, prominent, and influential.
Whether it’s average people heading down to the beach or the well-to-do deciding that rules are just too restrictive and inconvenient, stupidity has been on display for the last few weeks, and it is likely to cause additional deaths over the next few months and lingering problems such as heart damage and stroke susceptibility for years to come.
