The Horror of Watching Our Generation Lose Itself to Covid
June 18th was my birthday, and I spent it inside, taking care of my partner, who had contracted both COVID and pinkeye — two things that can be related in a minority of cases.
I had not tested positive, but I wanted to avoid spreading the virus to others, so about a week beforehand, we started isolating together, as my partner needed my help with care. This is not the current recommendation from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), which I have learned has stopped asking people to quarantine within 24 hours of symptoms improving overall. If a fever is present, it has to be eliminated without using a fever-reducing medication. Note: the person is still encouraged to mask, wash hands frequently, engage in social distancing, get tested, etc., for five days afterward.
This does not seem adequate to me as people can still be infectious even if they show no symptoms at all, and it was a recommendation that was widely criticized by many members of the medical community. Dr. Lara Jirmanus from the health watchdog group The People’s CDC told CBS News before the guidelines were released: “Frankly, there has been no change in the science. Most people continue to be shedding the virus for about nine days, with a range of six to 11 days.”
This conflict between the infectious period, as defined by the science, and the CDC’s recommendation for isolation made it very confusing as a layperson to determine how long my partner and I should quarantine.
The surprises kept coming when my partner consulted a virtual doctor and was told in no uncertain terms that he could go about his day. He asked if there were any precautions he should take, and she said no (something, again, the CDC does not recommend, as there are still precautions people should take five days after symptoms have lessened). He was still showing symptoms and could still spread it, yet that was the advice he was getting from a so-called expert—advice that was not even in line with the CDC’s recommendations.
The messaging on COVID is abysmal — truthfully, it has been for a while now — and I worry about the long-term effects that will come from all of this advice.
Sickness everywhere
A lot of my friends have been getting sick recently. I see them hacking and coughing at parties and coffee shops. I watch them rub their snot all over their hands without sanitizing them with disinfectant or soap. It’s quite heartbreaking to watch.
I have also been sick a lot. I wrote an article in April about how I got the sickest I had been in a while after traveling, and based on the many sick people I saw around me, it did not seem like an unusual occurrence. As I wrote in that article:
“The man to my left was coughing. A lot of people on the plane were coughing. I had a mask on, but he didn’t. A lot of people didn’t have masks. There wasn’t hand sanitizer in many places in the airport anymore, and passengers were not given it.”
We have created a culture where sickness is common. An analysis from Bloomberg News has found that infections for many diseases, not just Covid, have increased dramatically since the pandemic. According to the report: “Over 40 countries or territories have reported at least one infectious disease resurgence that’s 10-fold or more over their pre-pandemic baseline.”
In the US, these appear to be predominantly influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Many factors have contributed to this increase, climate change being a big one.
Yet, while not stated in that analysis, it cannot be ignored that cases of COVID-19 have routinely been noted to have long-term impacts on our immune systems. COVID may not have caused the death rate of the Black Death. However, its effects are still quite debilitating, and millions of Americans have contracted long Covid, which has been associated with a dizzying array of health problems.
One study found that long-covid generated a “higher burden of disability than either heart disease or cancer,” with over 80 complications ranging from blood clots to fatigue. Note: this study was conducted before the vaccine rollout and the development of antiviral treatments for COVID-19.
You may have heard that COVID-19 can reduce a person’s IQ. Even mild cases of COVID-19 can cause longstanding brain damage, such as memory loss and inflammation akin to “seven years of brain aging.”
It can disrupt the blood-brain barrier, contributing to potential brain fog.
Covid has been noted to generate a substantial inflammation response that can contribute to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
It’s also can potentially trigger deadly cardiovascular and metabolic illnesses.
Generally, Americans are not taking the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of this debilitating illness—and given the confused messaging I have remarked on, it’s not surprising. The CDC stopped requiring that “hospitals report COVID admissions and occupancy data” back in April of 2024, and it seems to me like an effort to reduce panic. As Marianne Cooper and Maxim Voronov noted of our government’s response in Scientific American:
“If the COVID situation is tracked and the public warned, things don’t feel normal. But if we don’t monitor or mention it, then things can feel ‘back to normal’ — fine, even.”
As a result, many Americans have stopped testing for COVID-19 and have likewise stopped getting their boosters altogether. A study released last year showed that most eligible Americans did not get a booster in 2022, and we have no indication that 2023 was much better in this regard.
Yet the annoying part is that the rich and powerful know that this disease is disabling. According to Dr. Phillip Alvelda, in an interview with the Institute for New Economic Thinking, some of our most prestigious institutions have adopted robust protective measures against COVID-19. As she remarks on the White House’s current COVID prevention procedures:
“…the White House has maintained the very strictest abatements to protect people who live and work there from the virus: In order to enter the White House, they have to have had no symptoms for 14 days, the latest booster vaccinations up-to-date, and a negative rapid test. They have nine or better fresh air exchanges per hour and all filters are upgraded to MERV 13. They have also installed 220 nanometer Germicidal UV lamps. After a positive test, you have to have a PCR Test negative to return to work.”
And yet, that investment is only being made for some. My friends are getting sick. I am getting sick. We are being told to go about our days as if things are normal — to return to work — and yet our leaders clearly see a reason to apply a different standard for themselves. As Dr. Phillip Alvelda continues in that interview:
“Most people have had COVID three and a half times on average already. After another four years of the same pattern, if we don’t change course, most people in the U.S. will have some flavor of Long COVID of one sort or another.”
A sickening conclusion
I worry about what will happen to this generation. We have already witnessed so much misery that it is sometimes hard to believe that this wave of negligence is not normal. We should not have to accept an entire population getting a debilitating illness.
That is not what “acceptable” governance looks like.
Many people are talking about collapse in broad, sweeping terms (see Forget Collapse: Things May Be Like This Until You Die). They point to the spectacle of destruction: bombs dropping in nuclear armageddon or great storms tearing up our ecosystem. These stories show everyone’s standard of living evaporating after one tragic day.
But to me, collapse does not have to be so grand. Collapse often reads as neglect. A government so intractable that it cannot even begin to solve fundamental problems. A government that would rather watch its public whither and die than do a damn thing about it.