Most irritating article ever on COVID
Is this whiny piece in The Atlantic
Getting Back to Normal Is Only Possible Until You Test Positive
I was ultracareful for 18 months. Then I got COVID.
NOVEMBER 9, 2021SHARE
When I first received the invitation to the wedding where I would eventually get COVID, I was on the fence about attending at all. My best friend had gone through a tough divorce and was remarrying. I was thrilled for him. His wedding had been put off repeatedly because of COVID, and this was the couple’s second try at a real ceremony. As a bonus, the wedding would take place in New Orleans, where my friend lives. I hadn’t seen him since before the pandemic. New Orleans is a miraculous place, and my favorite city to visit in America. The notion of a trip there shone out of the fog and dreariness of this whole era of history.
Thus starts this irritating piece about an Atlantic writer, a self-described 39 year old “endurance athlete,” who went to a wedding and got COVID — not necessarily at the wedding, but who wants to weigh down the lede? He was prepared to get the sniffles if he actually came down with a breakthrough case of COVID, but not for the trauma his positive test meant for his family, who also had to be tested and while his wife and kids tested negative, they still had to work or school from home.
What grates the most is Alexis Madrigal’s apparent belief that going to a wedding after being fully vaccinated is even noteworthy. Because really, a lot of us have gone to weddings during the pandemic.
Journalism used to be a profession in which practitioners flaunted the risks they took, so it’s sad to see any of them hailing staying cloistered at home as a virtue — especially healthy individuals at minimal risk of contracting long COVID.
During COVID, I’ve flown round trip at least six times, and because I welcome opportunities to speak to different people, I always ask the people around me if it is their first flight during COVID. Practically every time, the answer is no. People have been flying for work and pleasure, — all while people like the precious Atlantic writer were too cautious to venture forth in the world around them.
More from Madrigal:
But for me, the very worst part was my children. They knew, cognitively, that I was vaccinated and unlikely to get really sick. That said, COVID-19, for them, is a terrible thing. The past year and a half of their lives has been disrupted by this virus. They take precautions every single day not to have this happen.
They reacted in different ways. My nonbinary 8-year-old was so mad and maybe so scared that they could barely look at me. My 5-year-old daughter proved her status as the ultimate ride-or-die kid. She brought a chair down the street so she could sit 20 feet away from me outside in her mask, as I sat on the porch in an N95. I’m not sure which reaction was more heartbreaking. It was as if one never wanted to see me again and the other didn’t want to let me out of her sight.
This is what happens when people live in a bubble. They teacher their children to be traumatized in what should be seen as a pretty good outcome.
Every day they pound it into their children’s heads not to take off their training wheels. Ever.
Debra J. Saunders is a fellow at the Discovery Institute's Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. Contact her at dsaunders@discovery.org.
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I added a description of Madrigal as a 39 year old self-described endurance athlete