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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   25086 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 16, 2023

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The health authorities that had insisted on everyone being locked down and not going outside to even mingle within parks also wrote a blank check to these protestors. They were no longer "super spreader" events, but some weird health carve out where protesting police violence somehow made you immune to spreading covid.

I want to emphasize the flip here once again, because I feel that many people either fail to remember how extreme it was or claim that it was exaggerated. In back-to-back blog posts, my county public health department went from this school-marm scolding:

What we do know is that there are asymptomatic carriers out there, and while we may feel perfectly healthy, and the person we want to get together with feels perfectly healthy, if one of us is an asymptomatic carrier, we have now spread the virus. One of us will take it home from hanging out at the park, the backyard get together, or the Frisbee game, and pass it on to someone in our household who may actually get sick with the virus. That household member may pass it on to others as they go about their essential errands before they know that they have it. And suddenly we are right back where we started.

We know that the weather is getting nicer, and backyard parties and picnics are calling. Memorial Day weekend is calling. Kids are tired of being inside and want to hang out at the park, or sit 6 feet apart and do sidewalk chalk. But now is the time for patience and perseverance, and keeping up that stamina so we can all cross the finish line together.

To this endorsement of mostly peaceful protests:

Fighting for racial justice is essential, even in a pandemic

Communities across the country--including our own--are reeling from the murder of George Floyd. The past several days have been devastating as we grieve for George and the long line of people of color who have been killed while in police custody. The anger and frustration isn’t new, nor is police violence against black people and other people of color. During this time, we remember the lives of so many who have senselessly lost their lives, including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Philando Castille, Tony Robinson, and many others. Together we strive for a future in which black lives are valued and protected.

...

Racism is a public health crisis, and unjust policies and systems have created and perpetuated the inequities that persist everywhere in our country, including here in Dane County. Public Health Madison & Dane County has a commitment to being anti-racist, and we will continue to grow as we work with our community to build a more just Dane County.

There's some pro forma muttering about continuing to wear a mask, but it is just absolutely wild to imagine the shift from telling people that playing Frisbee is too dangerous to saying that the protests are "essential".

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