The Hypocrisy of Democracy: Failed COVID Protocols, and where to go from here
With COVID restrictions suddenly lifted in cities like Los Angeles, and life getting “back to normal” to some, it’s questioned, “Why are mandates being lifted if cases are surging in China with major lockdown procedures in place?”. This is a valid question and is important to note as we try to return to normalcy, we must also return with safety and cautiousness in mind.
As of March 30th, the indoor establishment vaccine mandate was lifted, and was originally mandated in fall of 2021. Directly before the Omicron wave hit, people began returning back to normal and not wearing masks, or socially distancing. Since the release of the rushed vaccine, many have forgotten the need for masks and socially distancing as new findings come out on the efficacy of the vaccine. Once it eventually got worse and cases surged once again, all of the rules and restrictions went back in place and people suffered.
Where is there democracy when this culture of supporting a failed governing power, with many people suffering with needs that are not met? One of these symptoms of avoiding lockdown and seeming to be lackadaisical with such a deadly disease was the large number of short-staffed institutions in healthcare, to even the aviation industry. Unvaccinated workers were fired, and vaccinated ones were allowed to stay, though all workers had been helpful and vital to society. Today these once-detrimental restrictions are lifted but how will we know when something similar will be instituted again? And again? Even when it sets back people in middle and lower income who choose to practice their free will…
“Wednesday's decision will bring to an end one of the strictest major-city vaccination requirements in the nation. It comes several weeks after other municipalities dropped similar requirements amid plummeting COVID case rates. Over the last two weeks, new COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County dropped more than a third. The council voted 13-1 to eliminate the mandate with Councilman Mike Bonin dissenting out of concerns that the BA.2 variant could cause another surge. In passing the measure with an urgency clause, the council fast-tracked the process to avoid having to wait 30 days before the mandate could be rescinded” (Paige Austin, Patch).
My personal belief is that we should be proactive in protecting people, including those whom may have been hurt from the vaccine, but also many people who are somewhat unknowingly recovering from COVID last year who are showing to have long term health effects. We should be proactive and maintain a cautionary mindset when following protocols that irrefutably have injured people, and not “get back to normal” too quickly if we are seeing countries face major surges who do interact with our home population regularly.
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Keeping people safe is definitely important, and we should do our best to protect those who are susceptible to getting sick. How do we do this? We can keep ourselves and others safe by washing our hands regularly, covering up when we sneeze or cough, and practicing good hygiene. Staying inside may have been good at the onset of the pandemic, but in no way should it continue to be a restriction. I think it is time for people to choose whether or not they go out or how they live their lives in the post-pandemic era.
While I think that attempting to protect all people from Covid is extremely important there are other factors at play here. Throughout Covid we have seen some of the highest rates of teenage suicide in history. We have also seen poverty rates skyrocket and unemployment through the roof. I think that the first year of mandates were necessary, however, now as we enter year 3 of Covid I think we are at the point where those who want to stay inside should and those who need enter into the workforce should have the ability to do so.
I remember when I was profiling a USC alumn for the Daily Trojan, she mentioned that in her post as the Public Health Director of Orange County, she had to take a "hard" stance that is recommending people follow the CDC guidelines (this was last year.) The previous health director got death threats- for saying people should wear masks! I feel like a lot of decisions are made not in the interest of safety but to avoid pushback, which puts a lot of people's lives in jeopardy.