Covid Fatigue

Today I reached my limit. I know we are all tired. No matter where you fall on the spectrum with respect to Covid (it’s a deadly plague or it’s a conspiracy), I think we are all in agreement that we are tired. tired of the news. Tired of the masks. Tired of the restrictions. Tired of the news. I typically keep my social media light. Photos of my dog and my kid. Snarky jokes about my shopping addiction. I avoid political posts, unless they are humorous. I don’t talk about religion or spirituality. Pre-covid, I posted the odd post about vaccinations. I did not judge the vaccine hesitant. Hell, when it came time for my son to have his first vaccinations, I was hesitant. I was not against him being immunized against deadly diseases obviously, but I was nervous about the correlation between autism and vaccination. Even though I knew it had been proven false, the doctor discredited and his medical license revoked. I still asked at the baby’s first appointment for assurance that the study really was false. Now that I am past my new mommy nerves, I realize that, even if the shots did potentially cause autism, so what? Having a child who is alive beats all. So yes, I occasionally posted vaccine information, in the hopes of assuring those who are nervous about their children’s vaccinations. But now we have Covid. About 20% of the population in BC that is eligible remains unvaccinated. I do understand their hesitancy. I understand their fear. I do not think that anger or mocking will change their minds. I am not sure anything will change their minds. I am certainly not educated enough to debate and change anyone’s mind. But I am tired. I can no longer read comment feeds where falsehood after falsehood is repeated over and over Vaccinated people are more likely to pass covid – false. The hospitals are overrun with people with vaccine reactions and not covid – false. The ICU’s are empty – false. Only old people die from the virus – false (and even if that was true – that is not ok). I have a medical exemption from getting the vaccine and wearing a mask – maybe true but I am skeptical. Hospitals lie about people dying from Covid to increase hospital funding – WTF? Social media used to be a fun little place to share photos and keep up with your friends. The worst thing that could be said about social media was everyone was putting their best foot forward and making others feel like their lives were lacking. While that is also a dangerous thing, it is nothing compared to the misinformation currently being spread. I don’t know when the distrust of the media and our leaders became so rampant. For me, it feels like it started with Donald Trump screaming “fake news” every time someone said or wrote something he didn’t agree with, but I don’t want to blame him if that isn’t when it began. Regardless, we now live in a world where a large percentage of the population automatically dismisses anything on the news as ‘fake’. They seem to only trust obscure sources on YouTube. Somehow, they achieve a credibility that actual journalists do not. I am exhausted of reading their nonsense. It is not avoidable anymore as a large portion of my social media feeds contain people who believe this stuff. I am loathe to unfriend or block people, both because they are people I care about, and even more importantly, I don’t want to become someone who only allows opinions that echo my own to exist. But you guys are making it so damn hard. If you could just stop for one minute, take a breath and ask yourself – is it possible that one dude on YouTube knows more than all the other doctors and scientists out there – I feel like you might see the other side. I dream of a day when I do not have to wear a mask everywhere I go. I dream of the day I can travel again. I dream of things being normal. I want to stop being afraid of getting this potentially deadly disease. I am so frightened my cannot yet be vaccinated child will get sick and possibly die. I am so tired of Covid. I am even more tired of the bullshit that is all over social media everyday. I am taking a break from scrolling.