I have stopped feeling bad about the COVID deaths of the unvaccinated.
Fast death is breaking news.
Slow death is just another day in Kentucky.
Kentucky's Grave County experienced a tragedy when the tornado tore through the county seat. A live broadcast from Mayfield is playing on CNN as I write this. Fast death is news. A bigger tragedy is that there have been 135 deaths from COVID in Graves County. There has been one death for every 276 people in the county, so far. One in five people in the county have contracted COVID and they are getting 19 new COVID cases a day. Someone dies from COVID about every other day. Only 42% of the people in Graves County are vaccinated.
COVID is bad in Graves County, but it is not an exception. The county is the rectangular-shaped one, in purple, one county east of the western border, It is an "extreme high risk place," but so is most of Kentucky. Statewide, only 53% of the population is vaccinated.
This is Trump country. An unopposed Republican state senator received 13,461 votes. Trump got 13,206. Trump won Graves County 77%-20%. In May their senator Rand Paul said he would not get vaccinated. This summer and fall he has been prominent as an antagonist of Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The messaging from Fox News has evolved and settled into a sweet spot of yes-but-no on vaccinations. Fox news hosts and their guests say they are "not anti-vax." That is the subordinate clause of a primary message of opposition to vaccination. Subordinate clauses give cover. They permit saying with greater intensity that vaccines don't work, that vaccines are rife with dangerous side-effects, that people still get sick sometimes after being vaccinated, that vaccinated people with a breakthrough case are infectious, and that people may need to endure yet more boosters as the virus evolves. Oh, the burden!
The subordinate clause "We aren't anti-vax, but" also permits them to reframe vaccinations as an attack by tyrannical government. It is an outrage that the unvaccinated and unmasked face discrimination and mandates. It is a Gadsden Flag frame, with villains in the form of Biden, Democratic governors, and Dr. Fauci. There are heroes, in the form of resisters, people like Ben Shapiro, a leader in the "Do Not Consent" movement.
Adults in Kentucky are making their own choices. They are consuming the news they select, voting for the leaders they prefer, and are dying because of their beliefs. They don't want a free, lifesaving vaccine. I say, OK.
I am having a change of heart to say it, but I will repeat it: OK. I give up. I don't feel sorry anymore for the tragedy of unvaccinated people suffocating and dying from COVID.
The Democratic governor of Colorado said aloud both the sentiment and the logical policy response. He said that people have had every opportunity to protect themselves, and if they haven't chosen to do it, it's their "own darn fault." He announced a policy outside the mainstream of Democratic governors. He says that the COVID emergency is over, that vaccinations protect the COVID-concerned from serious illness, so we should end mandates. He is being realistic. People are weary of COVID mandates and now they are backfiring and do more harm than good. It has become a point of pride to resist. Let people choose to be protected from COVID. Or not.
It would be OK with me if Oregon's Governor Kate Brown said the same thing.
Acceptance. It takes a change of heart from people with a public health, protect-your-neighbor orientation, but I have experienced it. If you are willing to risk dying of COVID, it is OK with me. Suit yourself. I give up feeling sorry for you.
I still feel sorry for tornado deaths, though.
You don't feel sad over an unvaccinated person's death? Do you feel the same way about someone who dies of the flu but didn't get the flu shot? Or an overweight person dying of a heart attack? There are many diseases that kill people that might have been preventable, but to blame a person for a disease is a bit heartless. :-( On a positive note, I really liked your "woke" article yesterday.