We're Really Not In This Pandemic Together

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

It’s been a common refrain since the pandemic started that we’re all in this together. This sentiment has become even stronger recently in my area where schools are slated to re-open this month for in-person or online learning at parents’ discretion.

But the unfortunate truth is we’re not in this together at all.

We have hardly taken our children out to any public places since March. Have we been perfect with our precautions? Absolutely not.

But we do try to minimize risk and we are always considerate of others.

The kids haven’t really asked to go anywhere. They’ve been remarkably okay with everything, but they finally begged to go to a playground one morning last week. It was very early on a weekday, so I agreed we could try under a few conditions.

They would have to wear masks, try to play on their own if there were any other kids there, and if it got crowded at all, we would leave. A perfect plan? No. But I felt reasonably safe trying it.

We drove to the park and when we arrived it was empty. The kids were excited to be back at one of our favorite places. Before the pandemic we went to playgrounds multiple times every week.

A few minutes later, two other families arrived with small kids. The two families arrived separately, but they were clearly friends. None of the parents or kids were wearing masks. Fine, I guess.

My kids did well doing their own thing. They said hello to the new kids and played around each other, but they weren’t up in each other’s faces. Perfect? No. Reasonably safe? Probably.

I was standing about twenty feet away from the two moms when I heard one say to the other, “I don’t think they should be wearing masks while they play.”

The other mom replied, “That’s what I was thinking, but whatever.”

Seriously? You’re going to criticize me for trying to keep my children AND your children safe when I can obviously hear you?

I rounded up the kids and we left immediately. It was probably for the best. As we were walking out, twenty or so kids and adults were walking in. Zero masks.

We live in Florida. The virus is bad here. Very bad. Should we have been out trying to go to a playground? Honestly, probably not. We’re not perfect, but we are always considerate.

Will we be going back? Definitely not anytime soon.

Unfortunately, our world is divided into those who are considerate of others and concerned about keeping people safe and those who aren’t. We’re not in this together.

People like us who care about protecting ourselves and others get to stay home and try to do the right things while all the other people get to do whatever they want.

That’s fine, I guess. People can make their choices. I blame our leaders for botching the virus response more than I blame regular people. But it’s pretty hard to take when not only is being considerate not appreciated, it’s mocked.

Of course, I know this is pretty small potatoes. We are fortunate that we’re not losing our home or our jobs or our lives, but I believe small actions do matter. And if you think people putting themselves first and making reckless choices isn’t putting other people’s livelihoods and even lives at risk, I don’t know what to tell you.

We’re not in this together. And that’s why we won’t be getting out of this anytime soon.