Americans presumed Covid-19 infections peaked around the third week of April 2020. By mid-May, the country had reduced the rate of infection to nearly half that. It was looking hopeful. The precautions taken, including the lockdowns of the economy, the quarantines, the home schooling of millions of children, the lack of funerals or weddings or most formerly-taken-for-granted gatherings of American life, seemed to have resulted in a significant flattening of the curve.
If only we could’ve kept our noses to the grindstone a little longer. Say, twice as long. If Americans had been willing to continue the quarantine protocols for four months instead of two, that pause, crushing as it might have been economically to families and businesses, might’ve saved a lot more lives. Unfortunately, because of premature reopening in many states, in mid-June infection rates nearly doubled to those of April. All those sacrifices Americans were forced to make became invalid. Americans were just too impatient, undisciplined, and most of all, didn’t like being told what to do, particularly by local seats in power in their respective states.
It was despairing, in watching anti-maskers roar about their liberty infringements, when all the while those masks seemed to be arbitrary things for deniers. They apparently weren’t effective enough to keep germs and viruses out, yet somehow managed to prevent adequate oxygen from entering those same flapping pie holes. It seemed likely that few of those Corona deniers had the slightest idea on what actually produced carbon dioxide in their systems, or how N95 protective membranes actually worked.