Dear Deniers: COVID Is Still Not Over

Read Dr. David Berger's column about COVID, from the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald. He could very well be describing what's been happening here in the United States: "The notion that COVID-19 has been vanquished is not supported by the facts."

Before giving us the facts, he writes that "Right now, we are telling ourselves a soothing story about COVID-19, one that follows the pattern of many of the fairytales we have liked to tell since our days around the campfire. It has a typical beginning (a dark threat stalks us), middle (a valiant and desperate fight against overwhelming odds) and end (the foe vanquished, a return to normal)."

"With no consent, no mandate, no public discussion, the 'dry tinder' (the elderly, those with chronic disease, those most at risk of  'reaping', as Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has termed them) is being burnt off. Deaths and infirmity in these individuals can easily be explained away and so easily discounted."

"The only way to identify that this is happening is through statistical analysis of death and illness rates. These analyses accumulate daily and are remarkably consistent around the globe, but statistical reports are not eye-catching and are easily ignored when it is expedient to do so."

Sound familiar?  

Why people would rather hide the truth and continue to minimize the devastation than fight it, I'll never understand. But when you read the reader comments that often accompany important columns like this and read things like "Who cares?", "Stop the fearmongering", and "I refuse to wear a mask and get vaccinated", you can plainly see why we're still in such trouble.