Q&A

Q	Has COVID-19 made Americans more united or more divided?

I’d say mostly divided, although after the vaccinate/don’t vaccinate argument the dividing lines would be kind of gray. This is because there are several parts to the Covid picture, and a number of ways people adopt those parts (besides whether to vaccinate, there is masking, distancing, quarantining, alternative treatments, etc.).

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the medical professionals, most notably Dr. faulty…er…sorry…Fauci…and the CDC have both been less than consistent regarding their numbers and recommendations. When you hear this plus conflicting reports even between countries, then add in the wildly different reactions reported by average citizens related to both the virus and the vaccine, it leaves a lot of room for doubt.

So you have one large group that believes that the Covid vaccine, plus all variants, plus all boosters, is the only way, and that those that don’t follow suit should be bullied into complying. And you have another large group that believes that each person should be allowed to make their own choice on the matter. Then you have people who started in one camp and moved to the other for personal reasons.

Here is what I know from experience:

Neither my wife nor I have been vaccinated. We got covid in the spring of 2021, and our symptoms were mild. I’ve had worse symptoms from the flu in the past. We have not had covid since, at least not that we know of.

We never masked outside or in our house or in our car, but do still mask inside public spaces when in close quarters. This is because we deal with a number of elderly and want to be careful. We also have an autistic, germaphobe, daughter with anxiety syndrome who still lives at home and is as close to her independence as she has ever been - we don’t want to mess that up if we can help it.

People who are vaccinated still get covid. The head of the CDC just today announced that she, even though fully vaccinated and boostered, just tested positive for covid. Several of our neighbors have had covid. Those not vaccinated had mild symptoms, even lighter than ours. The one who has been vaccinated, and had all the boosters, got it a little over 2 weeks ago and was absolutely miserable for 4–5 days.

People can have adverse effects from the vaccine. I know a woman personally who was pressured into getting vaccinated by her kids. Over the next few days, she fell several times. Her doctor told her that this is a common result of the covid vaccine. The problem is that she damaged two vertebrae in her back as a result.

There are other factors that I haven’t personally experienced:

There are alternative treatments that have proven to work but are still denied by those in charge. For example, both hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin have been used for some time, have been proven safe for human use, and have proven to work in a number of covid cases. The fact that they are not allowed by the medical community unless the facility or doctor is forced by a judge, but have worked in many cases when used (again, it should be a personal choice), is a cause for raised eyebrows as far as I’m concerned.

Then there are the reports of heart issues after the vaccine. The medical community can try to explain away the adverse effects, but it makes a person wonder when there are so many reports of negative side effects.

And now the CDC says that getting vaccinated does not keep you from spreading covid to others. So all the bullying was completely unnecessary.

And finally, there are many opinions, inside and outside the expert community, regarding masks and distancing, quarantining, when to take a covid test, when and how to wear a mask and what kind of mask to wear, etc. etc. etc.

Having said all that, it does boil down to personal choice. If people would just let everyone make their own decision regarding covid treatment there’d be a lot less division.