"I would give anything just to hold someone’s hand. People need other people. You need human contact to survive in this world.... [My daughter] said, ‘Mom, I already had COVID, so I don’t think I need the shot.’ I said, ‘Yes you do. You could get COVID twice. I know people who have gotten it twice... She’s just — I mean, you can’t really do so much. I said, ‘You’re not gonna see me until you’re fully vaccinated. Because you’re not gonna come up here and kill me.'... I get winded very quickly because of my heart issue, and it’s very difficult for me to breathe with a mask.... But I will not take it off.... The only time I will ever take the mask off is when I hear there are zero deaths, and it stays that way for a couple months, and there’s no new infections.... But I highly doubt that is going to happen anytime soon."
Said Robin Argenti, a 57-year-old woman, quoted in "The Forever Maskers" (NY Magazine).
FROM THE COMMENTS: Rosebud writes:
This woman sounds very much like someone I know and love, and probably like someone that any reader knows and loves. Somehow she has moved from "afraid to die" to "afraid to live". She may be alive, existing, but not living in any sense other than living in fear, in my opinion. It's too bad she has done her own personal algebra and determined that living in fear is greater than just living, but she's welcome to her conclusion. Living in fear leads to dying just as certainly as living does, and for most of us living is greater than living in fear. We need to be welcome to our conclusions as well.
AND: Sean writes:
"I would give anything just to hold someone’s hand." This is the quote that struck me. Because the words are entirely contrary to the actions of the speaker.
I'm also 57 and live in Upstate NY. I know a few people like Robin Argenti. People who have gone over the edge due to Covid. She's not willing to give "anything" just to hold someone's hand. She's obviously not willing to take the slightest risk and she's not alone.
Although the article lacks this detail, I assume if she's been making demands of family members to get a vaccine before she's willing to meet them in person that she's been vaccinated herself. So, you have a fully vaccinated person unwilling to meet someone who has already had Covid, even masked. The danger from such actions is exceedingly small.
I sense from the article the people quoted are fearful, totally risk averse, and also unable to assess risk objectively. The ordinary activities of life carry risk. There are fatal accidents everyday, both out in public and at home. There's never been any certainty, for anyone. Yet she's going to wait for Covid deaths to be zero for months on end before going out unmasked?
Feeling terrified and helpless is no way to go through life. I blame the media because fear sells and they've been selling it hand over fist for going on a year now. Fearful people are compliant. Now that Trump is gone and Covid is waning, they'll be looking for a new boogeyman. Climate Change perhaps.
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