It’s only a virus, they said
- Melissa Herrera: Not Waiting for Friday
- March 13, 2020
- 2071
I’m not an anarchist, but if someone ever asked me if I like to buck authority, I’d say yes.
If it’s snowing and a Level 3 Snow Emergency has been set in place, I want to go out and drive. If somebody tells me not to travel somewhere, I automatically want to travel there. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had people ask me if I’m afraid to travel to Mexico. “Aren’t you worried you’ll be kidnapped?” they say. I tell them no, then give a reasonable oral argument on why they also should travel there to eat amazing food and see beautiful scenery.
During the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, there was panic. Large amounts of disinformation circulated because it wasn’t a well-understood disease. All we knew was people were dying and there was nothing at the time we could do to stop it. Judgement was placed on certain sections of our population, and as the origin was traced, even more blame was placed. Many felt smug in believing they’d never contract the disease because of the way it was transmitted, and large swaths of people were wiped out by its spread.
I lost my only brother to its ravages, and after he died, the coming years and medical advances told the story of all we had been wrong about during its first deadly and misinformed days.
We have had many viruses originate and spread in the history of the world: Ebola, Marburg, hantavirus, HIV, Zika, smallpox and influenza, to name just a few. None of us move through the world with the intention of contracting a virus, but if we’re honest, we rely on modern medicine and know we have medications that will go to bat for us. The institutions we have in place, like the CDC or even local health departments, have been stalwart in times of great concern, allaying fears and giving us sound advice to put in action.
When new strains emerge and there isn’t a vaccine for whatever new virus has arrived, the public can sometimes go into denial by concluding we’re safe in the states. When it does reach the states, unless it touches us personally, we can mostly believe we’ll be OK. It’s the old “it won’t happen to us” trick of the mind.
I’ve heard over and over that “we won’t get that sick if we contract the coronavirus,” and I have to say that while this may be true for many, the people who are at risk wish to have a few words about your disregard. There is an oppositional defiance I’m seeing that is more than alarming considering the health risk.
I also have heard the “if it’s your time, it’s your time” response, and it falls into the “God’s got this” category. I believe God’s got my back too but not if I’m haphazardly spreading germs with abandon. From a friend online comes this quote, “There’s panic. Then there is subconscious fear of a panic that manifests as denial.”
Personally I now fall into a category telling me to stay home, not to travel or be in large crowds and not to touch surfaces where many hands have touched. Staying cautious for health reasons is where my anarchist streak ends. You won’t see me running out and touching all the surfaces at Wal-Mart just for thrills or visiting a nursing home where there is an outbreak.
I don’t panic, but shouldn’t we be listening? Instead of posting funny memes about face masks, shouldn’t we be gathering useful information? Shouldn’t we be remembering that even though some of us may not get very sick, we could pass it on to someone who will? Disregarding that fact is the real problem.
When you read this, the coronavirus situation could be improving. I fervently hope so. But I’ll leave you with a quote from someone in Italy, where they have — as I write this — restricted movement inside the entire country to try and stop the spread: “Please, please guys. Here in Northern Italy we made one big mistake. Everybody kept saying ‘it’s just the flu,’ and now our intensive care units are collapsing. Everybody kept going outside like nothing happened, and now our grandparents and parents are dying. Coronavirus is not the flu.”