Doomsday: COVID-19 Pandemic Could Be It

COVID-10 Pandemic. Transmission electron microscopic image of an isolate from the first U.S. case of COVID-19
CDC/ Cynthia S. Goldsmith and A. Tamin

Months ago I wrote how COVID-19 wasn’t a doomsday pandemic and we really didn’t have much to worry about (Doomsday: COVID-19 Ain’t It). Now, a few months later and I have been proven wrong.

Ill-Prepared in a Pandemic

Once we got past the initial stages of being unprepared, ill-equipped, and misinformed, this pandemic should have been under control. Instead of unity and strong leadership, we got a political, divisive, and dismissive response. I don’t care what your politics are, from a preparedness/survivalist perspective, the federal handling of the pandemic has been abysmal.

Initially, COVID-19 infections weren’t worse because

  • It stays airborne for only minutes (Tuberculosis remains airborne for hours)
  • Surface transmission is less likely than initially thought
  • Basic hygiene and sanitation kills the virus
  • Enough people took it seriously to minimize the spread
  • Local governments, for the most part, stepped up to protect the residents

It’s All About Me, Me, Me, Me, Me

“Forget about you, you, you, you, you.” That has been the mantra of too many people during this pandemic, which is why we’re still dealing with it. COVID-19 shed an ugly spotlight on the United States, not just on the importance of strong leadership, but also on the entitlement, elitist, and selfish nature of a lot of Americans.

So many people couldn’t (and still can’t) look outside themselves and the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask to ensure others don’t get sick and possibly die. We can’t even come together to not die.

Pretty Much Doomed

Given the lack of leadership and response to COVID-19, we are “lucky” that it isn’t more contagious or deadly. If COVID-19 was as contagious as Tuberculosis (stays airborne for about 6 hours) and as deadly as Ebola (50%-70% fatality rate), this would be catastrophic.

This country’s run by people who care more about perception than reality. Saying and acting like everything is good when it’s not, while doing nothing to make it better puts us in danger. We prep and learn survival skills to, well, be prepared and survive. When information is wrong, we can’t properly prepare.

Imagine if you are in a burning office building and are told everything is fine. Then you are told to go back to work because, the company. That only the taller employees are suffering from smoke inhalation. That the fire spread from the building next door. All the while, the fire department still hasn’t been called. That was America’s COVID-19 response.

We saw how something relatively small can spiral out of control when poorly handled. This should have us thinking about what we can do outside of stockpiling resources to ensure our survival. We shouldn’t be blowing through our resources unnecessarily because officials decide to play politics with our survival. We need to be able to rely on the people who are in charge of the things that are out of our control.

It doesn’t matter how many fire extinguishers you have if you keep letting an arsonist in your home.

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