Occam's Razor

Across mostly red states, Republicans are noisily celebrating their freedom. Only one freedom seems to matter at the moment: freedom from taking the covid-19 vaccine, a freedom that hasn’t been denied them so you wonder what the fuss is all about.

It’s unfortunately quite clear that they want to extend this freedom to plenty of others in their states, whether they particularly want it or not. Dr. Michelle Fiscus was until this week was the medical director for vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization programs at the Tennessee Department of Health. She was fired for excelling at her job, which apparently included trying to get teenagers and children vaccinated.

We’re seeing the results of all this “freedom” right now, mostly in red states, as covid-19 infections start to spike again, almost exclusively among the unvaccinated. No surprise, those infected are mostly acquiring the newer delta variant of the virus, which is much more infectious than earlier versions. Most of these states have no mandates to wear masks either, making it straightforward for the virus to spread widely in these communities.

In Springfield, Missouri patients are being offloaded to other hospitals as it’s getting hard to treat all these cases locally. Another covid-19 wave is obviously arriving, mostly in red states, but most states are seeing increases. It’s just that in bluer states, it’s more manageable, as more people are immunized. In Missouri, mostly unvaccinated people should be celebrating their “freedom” as they try to hold on to life while hooked up to hospital ventilators. Take that, big government!

But I’m celebrating real freedom. Real freedom gives me more choices to do what I want to do when I want to do it, and do it with reasonable safety. That’s because I’m fully immunized against covid-19. I’m immunized against a whole lot of other stuff too, as my doctor makes sure I’m up to date on my shots including (a sign of age) a shingles shot. My blood stream is teeming with antibodies to attack likely flus as well as lots of other preventable diseases.

How are we celebrating? Well, my wife is off to Las Vegas tomorrow, where cases are rapidly rising. Yesterday, over eight hundred new covid-19 cases were reported in Nevada. She and her friends are immunized though so she’s pretty safe to meet with her friends at an off-strip hotel. Everyone coming is vaccinated. She’ll have to wear a mask on the plane and while in airports, but otherwise she is minimally inconvenienced.

To me it’s still a bit novel to walk around most of the time without a mask. I do this confident that I now have a very low risk of acquiring covid-19 but I’m mostly outdoors anyhow where it’s not a problem. When in stores I’m mostly unmasked too, as are most shoppers. I keep a spare mask in my car in case I need it, and I do need it from time to time. A recent visit to the doctor to treat a UTI required me to wear a mask. But mostly I breathe the fresh air again and do it with confidence. My vaccine has a ninety percent efficacy rate, so should I acquire the disease it is likely to be mild and it’s very unlikely I’ll end up in a hospital and on a ventilator.

We’ve also got trips planned, principally a New York City theater trip in September. We’ll probably have to wear masks during performances, but again we can go confident that we won’t get infected and enjoy some fine Broadway shows, one of our true passions. These shows are returning because the state and the city got vaccination rates up high enough where herd immunity may be within reach. This was the holy grail the anti-vaxxers we shooting for. They just were hoping that enough others would get the vaccine so they wouldn’t have to. Unfortunately, politicians like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have convinced a whole lot of other people not to get vaccinated too, making it out of reach there. I hope they are enjoying their “freedom”. I’m enjoying mine, because it’s real.

I’m hoping one of these days it will occur to some of these people that government can actually expand freedom. Freedom from dying from preventable diseases doesn’t just happen. The private sector doesn’t decide to create the vaccines needed to keep from dying from these diseases. It’s a role only government can take on. In reality, most freedom means nothing if you don’t first enjoy good health.

Consequently, these “freedoms” being enjoyed in principally red states are anything but. If anything, they are anti-freedoms. The more who practice this “freedom” the less the rest of us can enjoy actual freedom, because we often bear the cost of their reckless selfishness.

I’ll be enjoying two shows on Broadway in September, and the city too. Most likely I won’t be hunting for a hospital with respirators and oxygen, as many people in and around Springfield, Missouri and many people in principally red states will be doing instead.