On March 16, 2020, I was sent home from court when its closure was announced due to COVID-19 just as the court day was about to start. You could see it coming a mile away. In fact, a group of friends and I had predicted it about a week beforehand at brunch when we saw how the virus was starting to spread around the country and around the world without any leadership from those who could have done something to stop or slow it. I have not stepped foot in a courthouse since that day. I was not able to work from that day until approximately one year later, and can only work now due to the fact that my profession has figured out how to conduct that aspect that I earn my living doing via remote conferences.
During that year, I watched as persons I used to think had some intelligence, railed first against masks, then against the real experts who were trying to do something, and then against vaccines. I watched the spoiled children play on the beaches and in the bars during spring break in Florida, encouraged by a deranged governor, who appears intent on killing his constituents. I watched the spoiled brat interviewed on television, drunkenly proclaiming that no virus was going to stop him and his friends from having a good time. I then watched a well dressed, well groomed middle aged white guy go on the same cameras and announce that he was not going to wear a mask "just to make you feel good".
And the virus spread.
We were unable to go to our summer home last year, as there was no way to get there. Dining out? Not until some of the restaurants opened for limited outside dining in the summer. A movie? Forget it. We still have not gone to one, not even a drive in. Sitting in the backyard became date night, but only if the neighbors were not outside as well. Shopping had to be planned so we could get to the stores at hours where the crowds were minimal, at least compared to other times. Even when we went shopping, the nearly empty shelves looked like refugees from the old Soviet Union. Where we live, meats were rationed. Toilet paper and paper towels were the new gold. When we left the house, we masked and sometimes gloved, at least until the latex gloves we had on hand ran out. There were none in the stores.
And some people still refused to wear masks.
And the virus spread.
We went for nearly a year without seeing our son who lives on the west coast, then got to see him very briefly when he was in New York on business for a couple of hours, outside, with masks on. We did not see our daughter in law in person from January, 2020 until April, 2021. During this time, she gave birth to our granddaughter. We could not be there to help. We desperately wanted to be there. We saw our son who lives in another state and works in the healthcare profession going to work every day in a hazmat suit, working on the front lines in COVID units fighting to save lives by day and fighting off bigotry against him at night. We were able to see him in person one single afternoon for the entire year in 2020, sitting outside his apartment with his partner. We have seen them once so far this year. We have prayed everyday for their health. Some prayers were answered. Some were not. My mother is in her nineties. She has essentially been stuck in her house for now nearly a year and a half. Her mind is still sharp. Her mobility is not. Other than visiting when we can and the telephone, there is not much we can do for her, although fortunately, she is still able to care for herself.
Throughout, the same people still refused to wear masks.
And the virus spread.
Thanksgiving with my family was canceled. Christmas with my wife's family was canceled. Vacations with friends overseas were canceled. No more evenings in the City. No Broadway. No concerts. No simple get togethers.
Vaccines became available. The vaccines are safe. The vaccines work. We rushed Mom to get hers. We rushed to get ours. I sat in the waiting area of Aqueduct Raceway in Queens, where I received my vaccine, and felt tears welling, figuring it was over. People would get their shots. We could get on with our lives.
I was wrong.
People refused to get vaccinated, many of them the same who refused to wear masks. Politicians, pundits and others enabled them, and some, like that idiot in Florida, decreed that it would be illegal for businesses, government offices and schools to require vaccinations, thereby endangering the very people who were out there doing what they could to protect not only themselves, but those who refused to do their part to stop the spread, including that smug moron in the governor's mansion.
And many of the same folks who refused to wear masks, as well as others who think they know better than everybody else, including the real experts, refused to get vaccinated.
And the virus spread.
And the virus mutated.
We did manage to make it to our summer house this year. The house is somewhat isolated from our neighbors, so it at least feels a bit safer. There is no real way of knowing if it actually is or not. We are not attending events we have routinely gone to in the past -- the county fair, concerts, music festivals, etc. There has not been a single dinner out with local friends, many of whom are not vaccinated. When we do go out to eat, we try to go during off times when there are few others in the restaurants. Other than once, we have not gone to any local museums. The nearby national parks are mobbed with out of town visitors. We have no way of knowing who is vaccinated and who is not. We assume many are not. We will wait until the summer vacation has ended and the tourists have gone home to visit them. All the while, when we go into the local stores, nobody, and I mean NOBODY is wearing a mask. And in this state, the vast majority of people remain unvaccinated.
And the mutated virus has spread.
And still people refuse to get vaccinated. The same people.
Assholes.
Every single one of them.
Think there are no consequences to this? On a practical and personal level, here is the result of those same, self-centered assholes who believe their rights are violated when they are asked to put on a mask or get vaccinated to protect themselves and everyone else, without giving any regard to the rights of everyone else out there to simply be healthy.
We are here. For how long, we do not know. Much depends upon whether or not traveling back to the east coast remains possible. It could be worse, much worse. We are presently healthy. We have vacations planned and paid for, but do not know if they will go forward, even though they are not scheduled for many more months from now. If they do not go forward, we will be angry and frustrated with the rest of you, but our present situation is not what anyone would consider dire.
Our son on the west coast is a member of a very well known band that tours around the world, making their living that way. The band just announced cancellation of tour dates due to the virus, which is spreading due to the refusal of those same people to get vaccinated. A major source of his income is now gone, because of the assholes -- and no other reason. It is also worth noting that many of these assholes, especially the political types, are the ones who have been advocating cutting off unemployment benefits, and are the ones who are responsible for the expiration of eviction moratoriums around the country. All of this will primarily effect working people WHO WORE MASKS WHEN ASKED TO, AND ARE VACCINATED.
Our son in the healthcare profession had been wondering a few months ago if he was going to need to switch jobs, as the unit he works in providing care to COVID patients seemed to be winding down. He is now back to putting on a hazmat suit at work every day, dealing with an overflowing COVID unit, filled primarily, if not just about exclusively, with patients who refused to get vaccinated, exposing himself to the consequences of their irresponsibility and downright stupidity, and then being forced to go to the basement of his home after work to decontaminate before he goes upstairs to his home due to the fact that his partner is severely immunocompromised. And we are living in fear of the consequences of his day to day responsibilities at work, and praying for him and his partner again.
And the mutating virus continues to spread.
I will not mince words. I am finished with that.
The spread of this virus and the practical and personal consequences of that spread are the responsibility of the assholes and their enablers who refused to wear masks and now refuse to get vaccinated.
Every single one of you.
Assholes.
