We have to protect each other from COVID.

The White House just told Republicans to go die in a frosty ditch and y’all know my spirit leapt in agreeance!

However. We are where we are because the virus was politicized right out the gate, people refused to take it seriously, and Americans in general are uninterested in taking steps to protect each other if the cost is any small inconvenience to personal impulse. People who *are* vaccinated don’t want to wear masks, even though masks are the #1 way to prevent the spread of COVID. People who *are* vaccinated don’t want to put a pause on going to the movies or the bar or large gatherings while we have a much more transmissible strain making its way through the population.

The unvaccinated are going to remain unvaccinated. No amount of fear-mongering or finger-wagging or liberal-shaming will make them change their minds. So! The answer isn’t to posit the vaccinated as the occupiers of the moral high ground while the rest suffer and die. They die *in* hospitals — and now your dad can’t get treated for a heart attack because the beds are full of COVID patients.

Wear your mask (properly! it’s been two years y’all!), get tested before and after these gatherings that you have decided you can’t stay away from, and reevaluate risk. No, you’re probably not going to die if you pick up COVID, but think about who might die further down the line because you decided you didn’t need to wear a mask at the movie you had to go see.