Adapted to isolation

When the COVID-19 pandemic came to my part of the country, there were a lot of people who were scared of the virus. Now, there’s a lot of people who are scared of other people, because of their (lack of) response to the virus. And I feel like there’s a small minority of us who were scared of other people as soon as the virus came and tried to cultivate that caution but were dismissed as alarmists.

I used to talk about how I thought people needed to change to adapt to this virus; enclave themselves, form small tight communities with designated couriers, etc. Folk got mad and said I was role-playing at an apocalypse out of some misguided adoration of suffering.

But I look at how those folk live and they’re… living about how I suggest, except in absolute isolation. Instead of working with neighbors to get by, they outsource it to apps on their phones. If they’re lucky, they can work from home. Otherwise, they take massive risks to earn an income, to not take any risks at other times, in some weird pursuit of a safe “balance.” (Imagine trying to balance how on-fire you are?)

A lot of people around me are very angry at their neighbors because of how bad this winter is going to be, but I’m not sure they understand that they could’ve done more than sought personal safety to outweigh their neighbors’ actions.