People Are Fighting Science, Want Lockdowns To Continue

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Things around the United States are re-opening as the COVID-19 pandemic winds down. Even states who had very aggressive COVID-19 mitigation measures, like California, are set to drop COVID rules.

This has a lot of people very excited about what the rest of 2021 will hold. But it's not everyone who's excited about the re-openings. There's actually a group of people who are incredibly upset over the progress the country has made in the fight against COVID-19.

The success of the COVID vaccines is reflected in numbers of COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from coast to coast in the US. The science behind the vaccines has been solid, even with some pauses along the way. But now the science spills over beyond the vaccines, and into the progress against the prevalence of the virus.

So now an entire group of people, who spent the last year telling people to "follow the science" or "trust the science" are pushing back against the science, and against the doctors and scientists they said they trusted. The way The Atlantic wrote their headline on the subject says a lot. Their piece called "The Liberals Who Can’t Quit Lockdown" caused a lot of these same people to rage online.

But as their article explains, this group has built an entire identity over COVID lockdowns. The article even covers areas where groups of "hardcore" progressives have started to fight amongst each other on COVID re-opening policies. Even pointing out that their sudden hatred of science is masked in their mind with the idea that it makes them a "good citizen". Here's what author Emma Green wrote:

"When vaccinated adults refuse to see friends indoors, they’re working through the trauma of the past year, in which the brokenness of America’s medical system was so evident. When they keep their kids out of playgrounds and urge friends to stay distanced at small outdoor picnics, they are continuing the spirit of the past year, when civic duty has been expressed through lonely asceticism. For many people, this kind of behavior is a form of good citizenship. That’s a hard idea to give up."

No matter how they rationalize it, they're openly denying the science of the day. The current status of the situation shows we can begin the reopening process. We can got back to our favorite activities, events can return, sports can get back to normal. The science supports those moves, even if you want to deny the science of the day.