It’s December 31st and the new year starts tomorrow. We’re about 2 years into the COVID pandemic and we’re all kind of tired of everything we have had to endure. But above all else, we’re exhausted with hearing our “leaders” change their minds every week about what makes the most sense to keep us safe and sane.
Yes, we know that the COVID situation is always evolving. But the reality is, where we are today is not where we were a year ago. You can’t keep telling us the same things and keep expecting the same results time and time again.
Yes, we know vaccinations are important. I got both my shots, and so did my entire family. But the vaccines don’t kill the virus. They merely reduce the symptoms and making living with the disease easier. But for some reason, politicians around the world seem incredibly obsessed with people getting the shot. And now we’re being asked to get boosters.
Yes, sure, the boosters will help us from getting super sick, but is that really what the long term strategy here is? When the next variant comes out, are we going to be asked to take another shot? The another? And another? How is that kind of action sustainable over the long haul?
Politicians are continuing to push and push and push on getting your shots, and keep on insisting that this will help control the spread of the virus. But yet getting a shot in the arm doesn’t kill it. Vaccinated or not, EVERYONE can still catch COVID and can still pass it on. So exactly how is my getting a shot helping to “reduce the spread”? It doesn’t. It reduces the symptoms. According to the World Health Organization, “COVID-19 vaccines provide strong protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death”. It states in the same paragraph that there may be evidence that it reduces the chances of passing on the virus, but this is not a guarantee. What we know is that getting a shot helps, but doesn’t kill the virus.
So whether we get a shot or not, the virus is still spreading so why am I having to prove I have a shot to go eat out, go to the movies, or eat at the food court at the mall? Shot or not, I can still pass it on, so wtf is the point of preventing someone who hasn’t been vaccinated from going into a restaurant or a bar? I have two shots and I can still pass it on, yet I’m considered safe compared to those without a jab.
Plus, why is it that a year ago when vaccines weren’t available, a mask was enough, but now you have to have been jabbed?
The powers that be would say that vaccinations are the best way to prevent overloading the hospitals. To this I would agree, but have you tried getting help at a hospital in our province lately? Healthcare in NB has been notoriously problematic for years, and now in the middle of a pandemic, that’s when the government decides we should take steps to prevent overload?
How about having more doctors available in the province? How about allowing clinics to do more than what they do now? How about educating people about using clinics and non-ER services for things that are not an emergency? Or how about stopping doctors offices and clinics from constantly passing the buck to an ER because “there’s nothing we can do for you”?
Plus there’s one giant other aspect to the whole vaccination thing that the governments are not paying attention to. After a year of nagging everyone to get their shot, do you really think anyone is going to change their views now? It’s been a year since the jab has been available and at this point, anyone who hasn’t received a shot, is not likely to change their mind now. So why are people still being nagged to death to get a shot? If you haven’t been able to convince them by now, you’re not going to.
Then there’s the complete and total lack of logic around why we can’t have family gatherings but go to restaurants. Earlier this year I watched an interview with Dr. Jennifer Russell (I can’t find it on YouTube right now) and when the news anchor asked why we can only be around 20 people, but can go to a restaurant with 100, she dodged the question entirely. No straight answer. Just talked about how they are doing their best to keep us safe. The people who make these decisions know it doesn’t make sense and so they refuse to answer questions about it.
My daughter has classes with 20+ kids that she sees every day, along with teachers, and assistants. But she’s supposed to limit her contacts at home?
I can’t have a party at my house, but I can rent out a hall or restaurant and invite as many people as I want and that is ok?
Amateur sports has been killed by the province, yet the NHL and plenty of other teams are still playing and that’s ok?
Despite all of this, there’s one thing I keep telling myself. It’s that we are living through a period which no one alive today has ever really experienced before. No one was really prepared, so the whole world is still doing whatever they can to try and muddle through it. Yes, mistakes will be and have been made, but come on. We’ve been at it for two years. We all know a hell of a lot more now than we did in the beginning yet we’re still acting like it’s day 10 of a pandemic.
But why can’t we just get some straight answers?!?! Why is it that these decisions being made are so contradictory to common sense? You cannot possibly tell me that I am more safe in a restaurant full of 100 people, or a movie theatre, with more than that, than I would be in my own home with a dozen or so relatives. There’s absolutely no logic to that in my mind.
So where does that leave us? For me, it’s about a balance between what I’m being told, and what I feel is right.
I’ll wear a mask. I’ll get a shot. But beyond that, I’m past the point of being scared, or being the subject of fear mongering amongst our politicians. COVID has been with us for two years and it’s likely to stay for awhile. Let’s all try to be reasonable about what the future looks like. If science can’t kill it, then we need to find a happy balance between living with this new disease, and still being able to live our life.
