Cassandra’s Curse
In Greek mythology, Cassandra was cursed by the gods. She was given the ability to accurately predict the future. Sound good? It wasn’t; the curse included the fact that her predictions would be ignored. No one listened to her. No one heeded her warnings.
Here we are in the second year of a pandemic that does not go away. It tapers off; deaths, illness and transmissions recede but never go to zero. The powers that be (e.g. economic, governmental, religious), upon seeing this tapering off, relax or suspend all the efforts to mitigate and control the transmission of the virus. This results in the resurgence of transmission which, in turn, provides the opportunity for the virus to mutate.
Every virologist knows that virii mutate. It is the bedrock truth of the nature of virii. It is viology 101. (A sidenote: that the virus mutates to stronger forms should knock all the creationists’ palaver into a cocked hat.)
The resultant mutation has brought us to the deadlier Delta variant of COVID-19. Now, we are being warned about the characteristics of the Mu variant. The World Health Organization has called it a “variant of interest”. This has all been foretold.
Dr Fauci has warned us. The CDC has warned us. The W.H.O. has warned us. Every medical agency in the world has warned us. The talking heads of the mass media warn us continuously that we must take precautions; wear our masks, socially distance, sanitize our hands.
These are not onerous, arduous tasks. These are not baby-steps on a slippery slope to totalitarianism. These are the considered counsel of medical professionals and career scientists. These are simple requests that a child could do. These are three simple steps to mitigating and ending the pandemic.
We live in a time of Cassandra’s descendants who ‘prophesy’ doom. Sadly, tragically, just as the legendary Cassandra bore the curse of going unheeded, we see anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers and COVID-deniers who rail against the simple, fundamental truth regarding virii; a truth that was won by generations of educated, disciplined scientists in a concerted effort to uncover. Yet, Cassandra’s Curse still affects us all.
