COVID has gotten this bad not because of people seeing families, not because of socializing, not even solely because of the anti-mask psychos. COVID has gotten this bad because the US government will happily let workers die on the job to keep the economy going. It's that simple

It's so easy and lazy to incorrectly blame bad individual actors here- and such is the backbone of liberal policymaking in general- but even a child could look at all this & it's clear the US government on every level made a clear, bipartisan choice to tell you to fuck off & die

it's not density, it's not size, it's not money; controlling this was not only possible but straightforward. This was premeditated mass murderer, with every governor, every senator, nearly every representative, the CDC, (& ofc the trump admin) all culpable, all conspirators

you absolutely should stay home if you can, and do your part. This isn't absolution for being irresponsible. But most people don't even have the option to stay home. Most people have had to work nearly every day through this.

Imagine, just imagine, if we actually shut down & paid everyone, gave everyone PPE, didn't purposefully spread scientific misinformation about mask efficacy that permanently fucked up usage behavior. Imagine how different it'd be. Imagine how many people would still be here.

One thing I think I will say, and a couple people have raised this as a very good point (& a blind spot of mine), is that there does have to be a discussion of the fact that a lot of people who *could* have done basic stuff on an indiv level just didn't, at all, the whole time

while I think people not giving a shit & being unmasked is more common in NY than it might seem from coverage, it's still a different experience than other parts of the country for sure, and the truth is in a lot of areas people just still aren't wearing masks at all

A lot of it comes down to awful public health messaging by the govt, access to resources, & misconceptions about risk & density- but we do have to find a way to talk about individual risky behaviors in a way that doesnt lose the forest for the trees re: who is ultimately to blame

& i could've been clearer about that from the get go, so I greatly appreciate the people who talked to me and pointed this out