Ask A Genius 623: Fatigue and COVID
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/08/21
[Recording Start]
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, we’ve discussed this before, but let’s revisit it. What do you think is the cost of COVID?
Rick Rosner: Are we recording?
Jacobsen: Yes, we are.
Rosner: Alright. I think we should be angrier about COVID, especially in the U.S., than we currently are. Discussing COVID in the U.S. inevitably involves considering its global impact, as even a competent domestic response would still require continued vigilance due to the global nature of the pandemic. It’s impossible to talk about COVID in the U.S. without mentioning Trump. Many people are already angry, but the fatigue from five years of Trump’s influence is palpable.
Trump, in my view, did more harm and less good than any other president in the 20th or 21st century. Now, 20 months into the pandemic, I often think about the lost time and what it means, especially considering my age. I’m 61, so COVID could have consumed nearly 10% of my remaining life. It’s also affected the elderly significantly. My mother-in-law, who contracted COVID, had to move from independent living to a more assisted environment. This highlights the personal cost – the lost time, the diminished quality of life, particularly for the elderly.
There’s also the broader impact on society, like lost progress in various fields. While businesses’ financial losses might have been calculated, the setbacks in science, entertainment, literature, and other areas are harder to quantify. This delay in scientific progress might have personal repercussions for many, including myself, as I’ve been hoping for medical advancements.
Children’s lost socialization skills are another concern. The extent of this loss is hard to measure but will likely have long-term effects. There’s the educational impact, the financial losses for businesses, and of course, the tragic loss of life.
One reason we might not be as outraged as we should be is the gradual nature of these losses. The pandemic hasn’t stopped people from going out, but it has introduced a level of risk. Despite being the deadliest event in U.S. history, surpassing even World War II in American casualties, it lacks the immediate, visible horror of war or other catastrophic events. COVID’s impact, similar to the slow deterioration of old age, disproportionately affects the elderly, making it easier for society to overlook.
In summary, we’ve lost time and much more to COVID, and it continues to affect us. The pandemic has also contributed to the political and intellectual division in the country, further entrenching a significant portion of the population in misinformation and denial. The overall cost of COVID is immense, spanning various aspects of life, and it’s a cost we may never fully comprehend or acknowledge, partly due to the sheer sadness of it all. The end.
[Recording End]
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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
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