(Nashville) Just before getting tested (yes, mom, I’m negative), I succumbed to a slice of coconut pie (a southern specialty worth a visit).
While waiting at the checkout, I realized that I was the only one wearing a mask at this Tennessee facility.
Two women, just far enough away to pretend to be talking to each other, but just close enough to be sure they were heard by me, began to discuss the pointlessness of wearing masks.
“It’s proven that it’s useless,” said one. “If we are to catch it, we will catch it with or without a mask,” added the other.
As we know, I have been even more struck in recent days by American health geopolitics. This is not a scientific sample, but I could see the masks go up or down depending on whether I was on Democratic or Republican soil. In Nashville, a predominantly blue city, masks were required – or, say, widespread. But in all the red counties of Kentucky, despite being instructed to wear a mask at the entrance to businesses, grocery stores, drugstores, motels, I was almost always the only one with a mask. Paranoia aside, I was getting stared at.
It’s not just an impression. The map of vaccination and adherence to health measures in general follows very precisely the American political division1.
And coincidentally, this is reflected (a little) in the spread of the disease and (a lot) in the death rate.
No matter how much we complain about the “politicization” of public health in Quebec and Canada, one fact remains: except for details of strategy, we have largely avoided partisan questioning of the fight against the coronavirus.
In the first year of the pandemic, the gap in the number of cases and deaths between Democratic and Republican regions was not significant. The first places hit were the big cities, connected to the rest of the world, where the virus circulated rapidly.
The arrival of the vaccine a year ago has changed the situation. Since then, we have seen a significant gap between blue regions and red regions. For one main reason: In predominantly Republican counties – such as western Kentucky where tornadoes have struck – 40% of people are not vaccinated. Against 10% in Democratic counties. The compulsory wearing of a mask and other barrier measures also follow partisan lines. With measurable fatal consequences.
Between May and November, the mortality gap linked to COVID-19 continued to grow; last I heard it was three times higher in Republican counties.
The meteoric contagion of the Omicron variant risks increasing this morbid geopolitical gap.
The source of political resistance to the vaccine, masks, etc., is obviously not difficult to find. Just listen to Fox News or, better yet, right-wing extremist radios and other mass disinformation media. Aggressive attacks on Public Health, Dr Antonio Fauci, vaccines, preventive measures, all of that had a massive effect, sadly countable in funeral homes.
It’s true, this discourse exists here as well. We see demonstrations, there are networks on the Internet, among certain radio demagogues.
But apart from a few marginal political speakers, it has no credible political intermediaries, and its impact is less dramatic. The death rate in Quebec is two times lower than in the United States, and in Canada, three times lower (80 deaths per 100,000 people in Canada against 246 in the United States). We can criticize the “politicization” of public health, but one fact remains: we have largely avoided, in Quebec and Canada, the death trap of the partisan health dispute.
The fact remains that the hospitalization gap here between vaccinated and unvaccinated is striking and worrying. Anti-vaccine propaganda and all its variations issued in the name of freedom of opinion, it kills.
As we enter this disturbing new phase of the pandemic, we are likely to end up with other unpleasant, radical choices.
After Austria, here is Germany decreeing general vaccination compulsory.
We will get there too. At least, the issue will have to be addressed. More and more industries will depend on immunization, it is inevitable – and desirable.
While waiting for the pill to cure it, it remains our only effective weapon.
Those who propagate the opposite in the name of freedom put lives in danger, it shows, it can be counted.
Their speech should appear for what it is: criminal.