I just went to a graduation for college students. These are the students whose college careers began in the fall of 2020. At this particular East coast elite school, the students had to do their first semester from home. During the second semester, some of them lived on campus, but alone in single rooms, having meals delivered, wearing masks whenever they left their rooms. It was very hard for my niece who had been so excited about going to college.
Four years later, she graduated with honors and won two prizes for her thesis. Her friends have similar success stories, and they all have exciting things to do after graduation.
Their resilience is impressive, but at this college, there were several suicides in the past year. This is very unusual for that campus, and there was a lot of discussion during graduation events about the mental health crisis that affects young people disproportionately, because of the way in which their social lives and schooling were interrupted.
During the graduation ceremonies and speeches, the pandemic was mentioned repeatedly as a formative event in the lives of these graduates. There was no denial. But this is a liberal college that took vaccination and masking seriously. In my rural TN county, people seem to have mostly "forgotten" about it. During the pandemic, a lot of people here would not wear masks and would not get vaccinated, especially younger people. (The vast majority of seniors got at least one shot, despite the fact that the vast majority of seniors are also Trump voters; they seemed to understand that he was lying about that particular thing.) As a result we had a pretty high mortality rate as a county: 0.4% of the population died. This may not sound like a lot of people, but in a small community, most people knew somebody who died. I do. I also know people who have long covid.
Still, despite the reality of our experience here, I am not sure how I could initiate a conversation about Covid, and Trump's poor handling of it, without reviving the reflexive partisanship that divided people four years ago. I think some people privately think to themselves that Trump was actually wrong, and that the virus was real, and that it was probably a good idea to get vaccinated. But talking about that out loud seems to be taboo. It creates more arguments, and more arguments are divisive. It seems to be very difficult for people to say, "I was wrong."
Also I had several liberal friends who refused to get vaccinated. One was drinking Ivermectin. I stopped hanging out with her four years ago. I have considered trying to reconnect with her, but her anti-social behavior during Covid changed my opinion of her character. I am guessing that she will vote for RFK Jr.
Thanks for this comment. My heart goes out to those college kids -- and as you know, many graduation ceremonies were canceled because of war protests. The mental health crisis among Gen-Z and college students in particular is one of those stories, like the opioid crisis was for several years, that people know about but where nothing seems to be done. I can't imagine coming of age in the polycrisis - my experience was so different. On the Covid-Trump side, I think this message needs to come from the campaign first and foremost. The goal would be to remind folks how bad it was, since they seem to have forgotten, and how responsible Trump was for making it even worse than it had to be. Anti-vaxx folks may not be part of that target audience, but there are a lot of sane, not super-partisan people who are reachable.
The persuadables! Agree that the Biden campaign needs to be the source of the information, not me. I think when I try to persuade the persuadables, they just double down on their misinformation. They need time to absorb new ideas, kind of in private, and change their minds in private, to avoid the humiliation of saying, "I was a fool and maybe also an a-h*le. I put other people in danger because I wouldn't wear a mask or get vaccinated. What was I thinking?!" Very few people will say this out loud.
Thank you for this piece. My own work as the creator/founder of WhoWeLost.org addresses many of the issues you've raised. CNN did a story about The WhoWeLost Project just a few weeks ago. We are a judgment and comment-free safe space for grievers to address pandemic loss. Also, I've written several OpEds on this topic. Here's a few links. I would love to discuss this with you further:
I was just asking my dear friends the other night over dinner about how they felt now about the Covid era. I was saying how strange it was that I don’t think about it very much anymore. That’s so weird! I was so locked down and “Covid careful” and my dad even died of Covid! But yet , I guess I’m denying the pain. Maybe it’s just too hard to think about. I don’t know. But I heard it said about the 1918 pandemic. Folks just got back to life. I do like your idea that we need to remind folks of all the terrible ways trump denied the severity of it and all the good that Biden did. Frankly, I don’t think I’d get very far with my right leaning friends because they don’t believe anything that comes from
I consider trump a mass murderer for his mishandling of the pandemic. He could have nipped it in the bud, to a degree, but instead politicized it and tried to make blue states suffer more. One of the most surreal, grotesque, and memorable times in that period was his trip to Walter Reed hospital. Remember how strangely the staff behaved, then his spin around the block in that black SUV, followed by his return to the WH, pulling off his mask and posing while struggling for breath?
I just went to a graduation for college students. These are the students whose college careers began in the fall of 2020. At this particular East coast elite school, the students had to do their first semester from home. During the second semester, some of them lived on campus, but alone in single rooms, having meals delivered, wearing masks whenever they left their rooms. It was very hard for my niece who had been so excited about going to college.
Four years later, she graduated with honors and won two prizes for her thesis. Her friends have similar success stories, and they all have exciting things to do after graduation.
Their resilience is impressive, but at this college, there were several suicides in the past year. This is very unusual for that campus, and there was a lot of discussion during graduation events about the mental health crisis that affects young people disproportionately, because of the way in which their social lives and schooling were interrupted.
During the graduation ceremonies and speeches, the pandemic was mentioned repeatedly as a formative event in the lives of these graduates. There was no denial. But this is a liberal college that took vaccination and masking seriously. In my rural TN county, people seem to have mostly "forgotten" about it. During the pandemic, a lot of people here would not wear masks and would not get vaccinated, especially younger people. (The vast majority of seniors got at least one shot, despite the fact that the vast majority of seniors are also Trump voters; they seemed to understand that he was lying about that particular thing.) As a result we had a pretty high mortality rate as a county: 0.4% of the population died. This may not sound like a lot of people, but in a small community, most people knew somebody who died. I do. I also know people who have long covid.
Still, despite the reality of our experience here, I am not sure how I could initiate a conversation about Covid, and Trump's poor handling of it, without reviving the reflexive partisanship that divided people four years ago. I think some people privately think to themselves that Trump was actually wrong, and that the virus was real, and that it was probably a good idea to get vaccinated. But talking about that out loud seems to be taboo. It creates more arguments, and more arguments are divisive. It seems to be very difficult for people to say, "I was wrong."
Also I had several liberal friends who refused to get vaccinated. One was drinking Ivermectin. I stopped hanging out with her four years ago. I have considered trying to reconnect with her, but her anti-social behavior during Covid changed my opinion of her character. I am guessing that she will vote for RFK Jr.
Thanks for this comment. My heart goes out to those college kids -- and as you know, many graduation ceremonies were canceled because of war protests. The mental health crisis among Gen-Z and college students in particular is one of those stories, like the opioid crisis was for several years, that people know about but where nothing seems to be done. I can't imagine coming of age in the polycrisis - my experience was so different. On the Covid-Trump side, I think this message needs to come from the campaign first and foremost. The goal would be to remind folks how bad it was, since they seem to have forgotten, and how responsible Trump was for making it even worse than it had to be. Anti-vaxx folks may not be part of that target audience, but there are a lot of sane, not super-partisan people who are reachable.
The persuadables! Agree that the Biden campaign needs to be the source of the information, not me. I think when I try to persuade the persuadables, they just double down on their misinformation. They need time to absorb new ideas, kind of in private, and change their minds in private, to avoid the humiliation of saying, "I was a fool and maybe also an a-h*le. I put other people in danger because I wouldn't wear a mask or get vaccinated. What was I thinking?!" Very few people will say this out loud.
Thank you for this piece. My own work as the creator/founder of WhoWeLost.org addresses many of the issues you've raised. CNN did a story about The WhoWeLost Project just a few weeks ago. We are a judgment and comment-free safe space for grievers to address pandemic loss. Also, I've written several OpEds on this topic. Here's a few links. I would love to discuss this with you further:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/18/us/covid-victims-death-memorial-website/index.html
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/4576656-are-you-better-off-today-than-four-years-ago-is-the-wrong-question/
I was just asking my dear friends the other night over dinner about how they felt now about the Covid era. I was saying how strange it was that I don’t think about it very much anymore. That’s so weird! I was so locked down and “Covid careful” and my dad even died of Covid! But yet , I guess I’m denying the pain. Maybe it’s just too hard to think about. I don’t know. But I heard it said about the 1918 pandemic. Folks just got back to life. I do like your idea that we need to remind folks of all the terrible ways trump denied the severity of it and all the good that Biden did. Frankly, I don’t think I’d get very far with my right leaning friends because they don’t believe anything that comes from
The left. Such a sad state of life now.
I consider trump a mass murderer for his mishandling of the pandemic. He could have nipped it in the bud, to a degree, but instead politicized it and tried to make blue states suffer more. One of the most surreal, grotesque, and memorable times in that period was his trip to Walter Reed hospital. Remember how strangely the staff behaved, then his spin around the block in that black SUV, followed by his return to the WH, pulling off his mask and posing while struggling for breath?