GARY COSBY JR.: COVID-19 grows despite conspiracy theorists’ predictions

Much to the chagrin of conspiracy theorists, the coronavirus pandemic did not come to a screeching halt when Donald Trump lost his bid for re-election. It is presently escalating toward record levels and is causing governments to yet again look at closing segments of society to mitigate the impact. 

Among the many troubling things associated with this pandemic, I think the most troubling of all has been the politicization of a disease. Somehow, despite the fact the pandemic originated in China and spread through Europe before making its appearance here, people tried to turn this into some kind of plot to discredit the American president.  

This manner of thinking is bizarre in the extreme and has led to many thousands of unnecessary deaths. The idea that Trump was somehow the object of a vast conspiracy is so blatantly absurd that it should not even bear addressing; however, even today, people are dying because they think the virus was just a plot cooked up to discredit their president.  

South Dakota emergency room nurse Jodi Doering has been posting on social media about working on the front lines in a state that has shunned many of the COVID guidelines and largely refuses to implement mask ordinances and other safety measures. She said this in an interview published in USA Today. 

“They (COVID patients in the ER) tell you there must be another reason they are sick. They call you names and ask why you have to wear all that ‘stuff’ because they don’t have COVID because it’s not real. Yes. This really happens.” 

In an interview with CNN, Doering said her description wasn’t about a single patient. She tweeted after her frustration boiled over, as she recalled numerous patients whose dying words echoed the same theme: “This can’t be happening. It’s not real.” 

Somehow, people bought into the absurd idea that this virus was nothing but a political scam despite the fact that people all over the world were dying long before the first case was reported here. We all watched the news as Italy was overwhelmed by the virus in the last weeks before America was impacted. We saw the deaths. Then our turn came. 

New York City was so badly impacted, the city had to bring in refrigerator trucks to supplement the capacity of its morgues. They had so many deaths in the early stages of the virus there were no places left to put the bodies. Yet people still tried to pretend the virus wasn’t real despite seeing its reality every single day. 

Oh, but the news media was part of the plot, so say the conspiracy theorists. Yet the deaths continue to mount. The infection rate continues to climb and some continue to stick their heads in the political sand and pretend it isn’t real.  

In my family and extended family, we have been hit by COVID six times, maybe seven though one of those affected never was tested for it. Thank God we haven’t lost anyone to it, but many families have not been so blessed.  

The fact of the matter is, we have made this pandemic far worse than it had to be by believing nonsense foisted on us by fake news propaganda machines. We even had videos produced by so-called doctors in order to discredit the virus and how it was being handled. We have had inconsistent and often contradictory information coming from the White House. We have tried to make the virus into some kind of political animal. It is not. 

In fact, COVID-19 doesn’t care who you voted for. It doesn’t care if you think it is real or not. It doesn’t care how young or how old you are. It doesn’t care what your opinion is on how hospitals report COVID deaths. If you give it an opening, the virus will exploit it. And because it is a virus, there is very little that doctors can do except support you while your body fights through, that is, if your body can fight through. Far too many have lost this fight, and it appears that COVID is not slowing down. Many, many more will face it in the coming months. 

The one thing we can be thankful for is that COVID has not been quite as deadly as the worst-case scenario predications indicated it could be. That, however, does not excuse us from taking the precautions that are sensible to save lives. That’s really where we stand. We have to look out for each other. Wear your mask. Stay home if you are sick. Reach out to help where you can. Most of all, for the love of God, get your head out of the political sand and understand this is real. It will take all of us working together to beat this. 

Gary Cosby Jr. is photo editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Readers can email him at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com.

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