I have a bunch of relatives that refuse to get vaccinated. They have a lot of excuses for this, including “loss of personal freedom”, “it hasn’t been tested long enough”, “we don’t know what might come from it x-years from now,” “it is a liberal conspiracy,” “covid is not dangerous, it is just like the normal flu,” and more.

That brings up the question of whether or not it is “acceptable” for them to not get vaccinated. My opinion is that it is perfectly fine for them to take that approach. Perhaps it exposes them to what they consider an “acceptable risk” and they are willing to take that chance. My risk acceptance criteria is different than that, but we all use different metrics and criteria – so have at it. No vaccines, no masks, your choice. Sort of.

The “sort of” part is similar to having a desire to drive an automobile really, really fast – extremely dangerously fast. Is that alright? Certainly – as long as you do it where you don’t endanger others, especially others that don’t want to partake in your risk decisions. You can drive 250 mph as much as you want, but not down my street or on the freeways. As a society we place very few limitations upon the amount of danger an individual can engage in as long as it remains personal to them. That means the results of their risky behavior are local to them, not “shared” with others, with the environment, with the economy, with the medical system or anything else. If you want to take the chance of killing or maiming yourself, have at it as long as you aren’t endangering me, damaging our shared resources or costing me anything.

Not getting vaccinated, and not wearing a mask (etc) is the same situation as engaging in other forms of risky behavior. As long as you strictly quarantine for the duration, have at it. That means NO contact with others. No grocery stores, no restaurants, no schools, no parties, no doctors, no hospitals, no gatherings of any sort. Engaging in any of these sorts of activities exposes you, and thus others, to being infected and continuing the pandemic – in which case you are impacting our shared resources and it is no longer acceptable for you to make these choices for me or others. If you want to create a “pod” that include more people in strict quarantine with you, that would be great! Perfect in fact, much better than masking and vaccinations. However, should the quarantine be broken and someone in the pod gets infected – they shouldn’t be able to shared resources such as the use of medical or hospital facilities. They knew the risks, made their choices, and that is how it should end. If they survive, great. If not, so be it – that’s life. Easy as pie.

Of course the problem is that none of those that are not going to play by the rules involving vaccinations, masks, distancing, sanitation, etc will play by these rules either. They definitely want to have their cake and eat it too. So now it comes down to the question of how do we (society) enforce it. Do we do like automobiles and create a “covid patrol” sort of like the highway patrol? Monitoring, investigations, fines, arrests, jail time including convictions for manslaughter should someone die because of your risky behavior? This is obviously what should happen because people clearly won’t self monitor – which is why we have the highway patrol.

Without an enforcement agency it is up to individual morals, ethics, patriotism and love of community. We know where that lands – people are very happy to enforce those traits for others, but not so willing to self monitor and self control. Given the inability to enforce a strict quarantine (the only known viable option to vaccinations, masking, distancing and sanitation at this time), about all that we can do is say “shame on you” for endangering your friends, family, neighbors and the United States of America. The 800,000+ deaths belong squarely on your shoulders, and any additional deaths and sicknesses pile on them too. If you refuse to take the necessary protections, them YOU are responsible for what happens in the future. Sure, it might be that it would all continue in any case, we can never know the future – but we do know what will work for now and if you don’t control your actions we do know it won’t stop. Kind of like driving 200 mph down the freeway. Perhaps you can do it and nobody dies – perhaps not. If enough people do that surely many will die. We really do have to work together to get past this – and quarantining is a great solution, perhaps the best. So for all of you that don’t trust the vaccine, go for it – we can talk on zoom and might get together again in a few years (or however long it takes for this to pass). Otherwise, do the next best things – and you know what they are.