Member-only story
What Living with a Virus Means
It’s a code name
Here in the northern hemisphere, the summer has already begun. Even in Central Europe, we’re well above 30°C, which is insane, but thankfully it is not as bad as India or Sri Lanka. Instead, it is “pleasantly warm,” making everyone talk about beaches and vacations. How great it is to have this summer weather right after winter just finished!
Nobody seems to care that it shouldn’t be like this. As long as they can go to the beach, they’re happy. I get it — I went to the beach myself — and it was a treat after more than 6 months of yet another lockdown. But I’m still sober enough to get chills when I think about what these temperatures mean.
The virus is finally behind us. A new government was just elected last month, promising nothing but freedom. If you fear the extreme right, that’s your solution. A new version of far-left which no more focuses on worker’s rights but on freedom from COVID-19 restrictions. “We have to learn to live with the virus,” they constantly repeat. “Life must go on, and the only sensible thing is to adopt the Swedish model,” the president-elect said. “We trust people to act responsibly.”
As a caregiver, I crunched.
What the fuck does that mean? Didn’t we have that for the past two years? Didn’t ignoring the mandates become a national…
