It is Demoralising How Little We Learned from Covid

It is back to business as usual for most of them. A rant.

Yesterday I had to visit my doctor for the first time in years. I injured my ribs while working in the garden, it hurts like having a knife stabbed into my chest (all the time), and I needed an x-ray which can’t be done online yet. So I went down there.

Photo by Vlada Karpovich

I expected other patients and the staff to wear masks, but only a few did. It was optional. Only one waiting patient wore a mask, and most nurses were without. Luckily my doctor wasn’t one of them.

There was one lady in the waiting room with a heavy cough, without a mask.

Since our parliamentary elections were less than two months ago, removing Covid mandates was something both sides have promised. And sadly delivered too.

But never mind that. After two years of shitfuckery they called governance, I don’t expect anything better from them. What I’m more disappointed about (again and again) is the people themselves. You know, us!

For us, removing mandates is just an excuse for officially not giving a fuck. If the virus starts spreading again, it is not our fault, is it?

One would expect people to learn some lessons, right? Like the fact that there are our lives on the line, not just some abstract statistics from the news. Or at least the lives of our loved ones, friends, and neighbors. But no. They don’t care about them or us.

One would also expect that at least local governments and business owners learned a lesson and now begin to upgrade ventilation systems in public places (like schools, hospitals, and public offices) and dedicate money to subsidize similar improvements for restaurants, bars, hair shops, grocery stores, and alike.

Again, we see none of that. Our mayor(s) are currently busy with asphalting roads and investing in tourism. More roads, more mountain resorts, more bars, and restaurants.

None of them came out with something like: “Look, let’s pass these investments for a year or two and rather upgrade our current infrastructure to make sure the next pandemic, or at least the continuation of Covid-19 doesn’t hit us as hard.” That would be very unpopular at the moment.

People want business as usual.

They want 2019 again, and their votes reflect that. Politicians — being what they are — are more than happy to deliver. Plus, there is this unspoken undercurrent of entitlement; people want their freedoms back, and they are entitled to them.

So I guess we’re fucked.