This afternoon I went to the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square to take in the annual screening of It's a Wonderful Life. Upon exiting the theatre I saw this long line. At first, I thought it was queue to go into one of the stores for Christmas shopping.
But the line just kept going round and round and saw a sign for COVID testing. I asked someone in line if this is what they were waiting for and she confirmed that was why everyone was queuing up. Needless to say, COVID isn't done with us and The People's Republic of Cambridge is acting accordingly out of an abundance of caution accompanied by fear.
With that said, I know there are some parts of the country that don't give a fig about COVID and some take pride in it such as Matthew Walther who bragged about his indifference last week in The Atlantic. Walther might not give a shit about COVID, but I give a shit where it concerns something that has killed more Americans than the 1918-1920 Spanish flu pandemic and WWII. Outgoing NIH Director Francis Collins certainly gives a shit. He is predicting that with the Omicron variant we could see 1 million new cases everyday. While this would have the effect of driving down the mortality rate it will also increase hospitalization rates and overwhelm our health care system and stretch its resources beyond elasticity. In which case, I'll probably be seeing a lot more lines like this in and around Boston. There's also a good chance I'll be standing in one of these lines in the not too distant future.
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