When considering the United States’ COVID response, a large majority of people will immediately think of former President Donald Trump. Of course, this response is not unfounded–if it were not for the politicization of science, as well as his defunding of the White Houses’s Pandemic Response Team, we certainly would not have seen the abysmal case and death numbers that the US touted throughout the pandemic. However, in an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday, September 18, 2022, President Joe Biden declared that the “pandemic is over.”
Although messaging is, obviously, not the only piece of a government’s response to a pandemic, statements like that from the face of the United States’ government, are a particularly interesting contrast to the ~400 COVID related deaths per day that the US is currently averaging. Such statements often come with lessening financial support, as well as an even further amount of public flippancy toward a disease that is still ravaging communities.
Perhaps I feel particularly strongly about COVID because my mom is an ICU nurse. I’ve heard countless horror stories from her times at work in the throes of the pandemic, and I’ve watched her come home day after day absolutely wrecked by her 12-hour shifts. From the perspective of a healthcare worker, the pandemic is anything but over. Healthcare workers are certainly not the only people who are still actively avoiding COVID, of course; many people who are disabled and/or immunocompromised are staying home to protect their lives.
However, to the general public, the pandemic is over. At least, the pandemic as we knew it pre-vaccine, in the midst of lockdowns. Many people have gotten COVID and survived–I (finally?) got it for the first time in August of 2022, right after I moved back in for the school year. As I isolated in my dorm room, I could not stop thinking about how I currently had the disease that I once regarded as a death sentence–and I was surviving.
What is more important, then, when issuing public health guidance: the general public, or the marginalized–often disabled, and/or poor, and/or BIPOC–communities? Although my heart wants the US to emulate New Zealand in its COVID response, my mind knows how unrealistic that is. Guidelines, as we have discussed time and time again, should be strict enough that they will keep people safe, while being lax enough that they are realistically able to be adhered to. Regardless, is it responsible for the “leader of the free world” to tout that the “pandemic is over” despite so many factors pointing in the opposite direction?
I agree with your point about how the president has a unique opportunity to be the “face” of our governing bodies. Especially with the advent of social media platforms like Twitter, it has become easier for leaders to communicate with constituents. However, with more opportunities to communicate with citizens, there are more opportunities to misinform or misspeak. President Biden is misguided in saying that “the pandemic is over,” and his words fail to support individuals who face stress or worry due to the virus every day. Thank you for also sharing your mother’s experience with the pandemic!
Great post Makalee, and I feel you on the “pandemic is not over for my family” situation. My partner is immunocompromised so we are living like it’s March 2020 still in our lives. If there is a silver lining to this pandemic and various leaders insistence that it is “over” and we should go “back to normal” is that Disability Activists have really helped us to better understand the impact this has on various vulnerable populations and folks who perhaps otherwise would not have thought about disability rights now are. I hope your mom stays safe.