Careful readers of this paper may notice that we have changed our style guide on “Covid-19.” For more than a year, the Flyer style was to capitalize each letter of the word. More and more, it began to feel as though the paper were shouting at the reader, not unlike the sporadic capitalization in the deranged tweets of the former president. So, following the example of a multitude of other legitimate publications, we’re choosing to style the word as “Covid.”
That we have been writing about this disease for long enough and often enough to necessitate not one, but two entries into the style guide is, for me at least, a source of dismay. I’m sure most of us have had some version of this moment — the seemingly innocuous event that reminds you how long we’ve been dealing with this problem. If our governor has his way, it may be never ending.
On Monday, August 16th, Governor Bill Lee issued an executive order allowing parents to opt their children out of mask mandates imposed by local school districts, such as that of Shelby County Schools. SCS Superintendent Joris Ray immediately announced that he was meeting with SCS board members and their counsel to “review the legalities of Governor Lee’s Executive Order 84.” I imagine the same situation is happening in Davidson County and that the state will be hit with a slew of lawsuits. Again.
What worries me is that we continue to allow a fanatical minority to dictate the terms of acceptable behavior. According to a recent Axios-Ipsos poll on mandatory masking in schools, 69 percent of people polled were for the measure. What’s more, 44 percent of Republicans agreed. Let that be a reminder that all this back-and-forth, all this strife and tension, the backsliding after hard-fought gains against the depredations of the disease, is due to the whims of a very small segment of the population.
To me, it seems Lee has sidestepped the (expensive) issue of calling a special legislative session while still delivering up an executive action that will play well on Fox News. “Parents know best” and “the government can’t make my health decisions for me” are old standards, and I’m sure his supporters will eat that up. Getting out of this mess will take work and sacrifice, but that’s a hard sell to voters, and anyway, success isn’t guaranteed. But there’s a vocal segment of the population who will remember this as a stand against tyranny. And those people vote.
“No one cares more,” tweeted Lee, “than a parent.” The problem is that not every parent is a virologist or nurse or medical doctor. Parents may care the most, but caring does not necessarily equal expertise. I have no doubt that my mother loves me, but I also remember that a frequent pastime was taking my sister and me to the library, then retiring to the smoking section of Perkins or CK’s, where she would drink coffee, smoke, and draw while my sister and I read. Sure, we turned out okay (Look, Ma, no asthma!), but I think any random selection of pediatricians would deliver the verdict that the smoking section of a diner does not make the best playground.
So we’re stuck, all of us, bending to the whims of a few because they’re reliable voters who don’t ask for any meaningful change. A viable political candidate, for these voters, is not one who brings jobs to the state or works to improve healthcare access. No, they simply have to tout a gold-star NRA rating, a willingness to waste state funds defending the newest futile and cruel version of a “bathroom bill,” and say something generic about freedom.
But it’s a plywood freedom, a facade, a papier-mâché cutout of some red-white-and-blue fairytale. It’s a freedom without obligation or responsibility, and such a thing is a myth. Anyone selling that version of life is a snake-oil salesman right out of The Music Man.
So, as The New York Times this week reports that the Biden administration is set to recommend booster shots of the Covid vaccine for eligible adults, we see the damage that can be done by those who demand access to society’s benefits without participating in its responsibilities.
I hope those of us who feel that way will abandon this selfish school of thought, step up, and do their part. Get vaccinated, wear a mask, stop hurling insults at healthcare workers under the guise of protest.
In the meantime, I hope we don’t have to update our style guide entry on Covid again.
