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By Allison Boarman
The coronavirus has taken over our phones for the last few weeks now. At least five new reports come up on my phone every single day, usually detailing the new number of cases in the United States or discussing the importance of social distancing. Of course, if you’re on social media, you also know that people are jumping on Twitter and Facebook more than ever to comment on articles, or to write about their own opinions during this time. The other day, one of the tweets that I came across really stuck out to me. It read, “This is our new normal.” Just that. For some reason, that particular tweet struck a chord in me. I was upset.
No, this is not our new normal. We need to stop acting like it is.
The United States pandemic team was fired two years before a massive pandemic struck the United States. Major politicians compared the coronavirus to the flu, all while the coronavirus was already killing the country’s citizens at an alarming rate.
Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers are working with little to no personal protective equipment. The president has claimed that the federal government has no responsibility to give out PPE, and states are held responsible for procuring their own PPE. The federal government is still refusing to assist states in gathering PPE.
People are stockpiling necessities, causing the elderly who are not able to go to the store every day to check for more food to go without.
People are still pretending like nothing is happening. People around the state are still throwing parties and going to places like church. People are still not physically isolating. They are putting immunocompromised populations at risk.
People are making masks out of fabric and filters and then selling them. People are being greedy during an international crisis.
And this is what other people want to call “normal”?
I will not be calling this normal. Instead, I will be assisting with change in any way I can. In June and November, I’ll be voting to remove politicians who have made this crisis drastically worse than it needed to be. I will be proudly promoting Gov. Andy Beshear’s daily talks, because he seems to be fighting harder for us than our own president. I will be consistently campaigning for candidates who will actually protect their people. I will be advocating for more federal assistance for supplying PPE to our healthcare workers. I won’t be selling masks, because they should be given out freely. I will be watching church online instead of choosing to put the rest of the congregation at risk. I will not be stockpiling food, and I will be physically isolating from the rest of the world.
Our new normal should be recognizing that there is a problem when our politicians ignore our pleas for help. Our new normal should be volunteering to help the community around us. Our new normal should be making masks for our neighbors to wear. Our new normal should be actually caring about other lives.
Allison Boarman, of Owensboro, Ky., is a member of the McConnell Scholar Class of 2023. She studies English and political science at the University of Louisville.