A Brief Tale of COVID Tragedy
I’ve known Arthur for over fifty years. As children in middle school, he was my first friend. Arthur and I enjoyed many of the same things, from backpacking to playing music. He was smart, a bit odd — very socially awkward — and he loved the arts and nature. Family aside, I’ve known him longer than any other friend.
Later in life Arthur and I had significant disagreements on a number of important issues, but we still kept in touch from time to time. He built a decent life for himself and raised two wonderful daughters. Arthur was a good man.
But this older Arthur also relied upon dubious information to shape his world view. Most of this was fed to him by dodgy news sources. He began to believe self-serving autocratic ideas from politicians and pundits that were often delivered in a deceptively disingenuous populist message. What’s most important is how this partisan messaging moved outside the sphere of politics and began chipping away at the foundation of health, science and truth.
Arthur came to believe that COVID was a hoax — that it wasn’t all that dangerous to one’s health. It’s just another form of the flu, he said. He didn’t trust Dr. Fauci or other medical experts. He abandoned his trust in science and instead pinned his faith on the inexpert opinions of people who have no real care for the truth or for the welfare of the people who listen.
Arthur never made an effort to be vaccinated for COVID. He never wore a mask or took safety precautions for COVID. He railed against this threat to independence and ignored the necessary human value of interdependence.
Living alone, Arthur spoke with his adult daughters and his ex-wife — all of whom live far away — on a nearly weekly basis. In March of this year, Arthur began exhibiting symptoms associated with COVID. In more than one telephone conversation he heard, and ignored, desperate pleas from friends and family for him to see a doctor, to go to emergency. Arthur never sought medical treatment. He said it was only the flu and he’ll be better soon.
Within a week of experiencing symptoms Arthur died from COVID. He was 67 years old — a healthy man with no known underlying health conditions.
When telephone calls went unanswered, authorities were asked to go to Arthur’s home where they broke down the front door to find him dead.
In those instances when confronted with someone who claims COVID is a hoax, or a political issue, or they treat it as anything other than what it is — a global health emergency that is a matter of life and death — I’ve often struggled with how to react.
I’m not yet ready to use anger as a tool when faced with such foolishness, but using kindness and appealing to reason thus far does not typically get the job done either. It’s a difficult road when someone is creating their own fiction about the pandemic or buying into someone else’s fiction about it while refusing to listen to legitimate experts and facts.
It’s also weirdly true that far too many people have to experience some form of personal tragedy before they will accept vaccinations and other safety protocols as honest, important — and yes, life saving — advice.
It’s too late for Arthur. Please don’t let it be too late for you or someone you love. There are real-life consequences when ignoring facts and expertise.
Get vaccinated. Take prescribed safety precautions for COVID seriously.
Rest in Peace, Arthur, my old friend.