The Dystopian New Normal

The last few days have been very busy for us. In addition to dealing with the relentless winter that is the perfect metaphor for the new administration in power (cold, depressing, & seemingly hopeless), we were in the much happier process of settling our son at a new boarding school where we hope he will have as normal a life as possible.  And, with any luck, he’ll even get to play some Spring lacrosse, which was completely cancelled last year, along with the summer season.  

But even the introduction to the new school was another reminder of how changed our country has been by COVIDmania and not for the better.  This is the procedure that the school had to establish according to their interpretation of CDC guidelines: the students are supposed to quarantine for 7-10 days prior to the first day of arrival. In addition, they must have a negative COVID test administered no more than a week prior to that first day of school. Yet, it can’t be a rapid test (even though the standard tests may take up to a week to get the results for) because according to the school, the rapid tests have too many false negatives- the exact opposite of what the clinic told us, which is that the rapid tests has too many false positives.  Whatever. 

Upon arrival on campus, the student must alone bring all of his/her belongings into their “quarantine room” without the help from the parents, even though everyone is required to wear a mask, even outside.  I’ll take that as an admission that masks don’t work because, if they did, then we could just wear a mask when we enter the building. I also took that as an admission that they aren’t really following CDC guidelines but most likely the guidelines provided by the legal counsel protecting the school from litigious parents or overzealous health state officials.  Frankly, I don’t blame them.  

Back to the move-in procedure.  Many of you may have gotten stuck on the “quarantine room” provision wondering what that is.  Well, it means exactly what you think:  the students, upon arrival, are set-up in quarantine rooms (2 per room in a double suite for a total of 4 students) where they will stay for the next 10 days, with one daily outing (measured in minutes, not hours) where they will be able to go outside, one quarantine suite at a time, to play/exercise/walk on their own, socially distanced.  Did I mentioned that they are supposed to be socially distanced from their roommates during the entire 10 day prison quarantine stay? Yes, they are supposed to socially distance in a room the size of a college dorm room.

During the quarantine period, students aren’t allowed to go to classes (have to do them virtually), walk around campus, socialize with other students, work-out, or even go out to the dining room, as all their meals are delivered to their room.  After one week, they will have to take another COVID test and if that test is negative and there are no symptoms, they get to stay another 4 days in quarantine until they can join the rest of the school.  Somehow, this all makes sense to them.  And yes, I’ve had to bite my tongue to the point of bleeding, only because I know the school is trying their best and this is a very good opportunity for our son.  Yet I cannot stop but wonder:  will this madness ever stop?  Or are some people permanently affected by this paranoia regarding this common cold virus, even without ever getting it?  

I’m afraid our country will never go back to normal and for that we have to thank people like the quack Anthony Fauci, the highest paid government bureaucrat in our nation who was just awarded another million dollars to add to his bank account. He promised a year ago that our country would never go back to normal, that the nightmare that he and Democrat officials created is our “new normal” and they have all delivered on that promise.  It doesn’t matter that Fauci has had to reverse himself in just about everything he has said or forecasted because he has been wrong just about every time.  

It doesn’t matter that the man that he and other Useful Idiots on the Left idolized as the savior and best administrator of the “COVID crisis,” Democrat New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, not only mishandled the crisis but lied and covered up his ineptitude, causing thousands of nursing home residents their lives.  

It doesn’t matter that California, the state with the most Draconian lockdown measures in the country is now the state leading in COVID fatalities, closely followed by New York, another state known for their brutal lockdown measures, proving that lockdown measures do NOT work. 

It doesn’t matter that every single day, President Trump is proven right again in just about everything he said, from the need to reopen schools (which they all want to do now), to lifting lockdown restrictions to help businesses, to the use of therapeutics already available which, while not particularly profitable to Big Pharma or the legislators who get generous donations from it, have proven to work time and again.  In sum, it doesn’t matter that everything the Democrats have said or whined about was wrong:  our country has proven that too many will follow blindly and that they more easily conditioned than we would have believed possible. 

Now, the boarded up businesses shutdown forever are a part of the scenery, a constant reminder of what life once was.  We have no more movie theaters.  The restaurants and other places of businesses that are open are depressing empty rooms with tables piled up in corners to better allow for the theoretical social distancing. Too many playgrounds are still closed-down with police yellow tape, as if a murder had occurred.  Parking lots and beaches are littered with disposable masks that resemble feminine pads.  People walk around constantly tugging and touching their bothersome masks, some which are so filthy that I can only imagine what kind of lung infections they could generate. Half the time I’m wearing my mask, I have to either repeat myself, talk louder, or just take the damn thing off just so that people can understand me.  Not that I can understand what people are telling me most of the time, either.  Then there’s the fact that I will never be able to recognize anyone whom I met through the last year wearing a mask. 

More importantly, we still have those teachers and administrators refusing to return to the classroom, while politicians and bureaucrats drunk on power continue to impose restrictions on the every day lives and aspirations of our young people.  All the while they not only deny our kids an education, they deny our kids a normal childhood while shutting down their aspirations for the future.  They instill fear and paranoia in them, convincing them that a normal life and a bright future are no longer possible. As a result, the rates of suicide and self-harm among our children continue to skyrocket, with children as young as 8 yrs of age taking their lives.  And the promoters of the COVIDmania just shrug their shoulders because they don’t think this is their problem.  They will also rage at anyone who doesn’t comply, as they dutifully do, and wait for the new government sanctioned slogan, like “we are in this together” or “quaranteam” to come out so they can feel better about themselves.  

Thanks, but I’ll pass.