Are We Normal Yet: : How Easy It Is to Forget 1 Million Are Dead in the US and More Will Die

by Robert McGarvey

Another shoe just fell and unless you closely follow Iberian news you probably didn’t hear it. Spain has suddenly eased its requirements for unvaccinated Americans to enter the country, now demanding simply a negative result on a Covid test. Previously Spain had required the unvaccinated to provide proof of recovery from a recent case of coronavirus, meaning the person had antibodies and thus a natural immunity.

What prompted this? Reported the Washington Post, “The Spanish minister of industry, trade and tourism, María Reyes Maroto, said in an announcement that the ‘new phase of the pandemic’ allowed the country to relax the entry rules. The country saw a 9 percent drop in daily cases over the past week, with 229 new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days as of Monday, according to tracking data compiled by The Washington Post.” 

I am following Spain’s behavior because I vacationed there last fall, in part because I liked their requirement that all Americans who entered had to be vaccinated. I have another trip there planned for this fall. I am not thrilled by this easing of entry requirements so I will monitor what happens to the Iberian infection rate.

But Spain is just the start. The more I think on it the more I see a troubling stampede to eliminate Covid related protections – even though the disease is still out there and it is still killing.

Where? Try here, in the US of A. Unlike Spain, the US in fact now is seeing rise case numbers, indeed double digit increases. The New York Times reports a staggering 53% jump in the number of cases in the past 14 days…and the real number is doubtless higher because the proliferation of at home test kits means innumerable positives are noted but not recorded (and, we hope, the affected individuals choose to self isolate but who knows?).

Worse probably is coming. This is a Walt Kelly moment and we have met the enemy and he is us.

We are suddenly behaving as though Covid had been defeated. Even when – quite obviously – it remains very much on the prowl for victims among us.

I definitely am not preaching do as I do. My own recent behavior, looked at through this Covid lens, embarrasses me.

My guard isn’t down, it has fled. On Friday night I went to a buzzy, busy, crowded restaurant in Phoenix – Scott Conant’s Mora Italian, don’t miss the polenta or the pasta pomodoro. The food was great. But, although the servers were masked, I wasn’t and neither were many others. It was only when I was back home and reviewing a very pleasant meal in my head that the thought suddenly occurred: what the hell was I thinking (or not thinking).

But my behavior gets weirder. On Saturday I went with my wife to a matinee of the new Downton movie (no sniggers, sometimes one does what one needs to do) and again did not even think of a mask. Honestly it did not matter. There was one other person in the theater – which seats probably 150 – so we were fine. But what if 50 had tumbled in? What if?

On Sunday I went to a church service, again without a mask. Probably 250 were at the service, a crowd but not jammed. (Capacity is said to be around 500.) I noted maybe a half dozen people wearing masks. The rest were maskless. Including me.

How dumb are we?

The NYTimes Covid tracker shows an 84% jump in Covid cases in metro Phoenix in the past two weeks. That’s a huge leap.

America also remains vaccine stupid, where a full one third of us are not fully vaccinated. In Arizona, where I live, 38% aren’t (a lot of Stop the Steal cretins here).

Yeah, I am vaccinated and doubly boosted – but I also know that many fully vaccinated have come down with cases of Covid as new variants emerge. That’s not unexpected.

Here’s my vow: the mask goes back on my face in public settings because Arizona remains a dangerous place.

It ain’t back to normal yet.

No matter how much I wish it were.

It won’t be normal until we defeat this virus. That means acting smart. And safe.

Me too.