I am not a public health person, but I do have a doctorate in bioengineering and I spend a lot--a LOT--of time thinking about collective systems.

There is no moral valence to getting sick. It has nothing to do with you being a good person, a bad person, following the rules or not. Viruses don't care.

There is no 'preventing' getting infected. Everything that we do--handwashing, masks, distancing--is about *reducing* the odds of getting sick. But it's probabilistic, not deterministic. And sometimes the dice come up snake-eyes.

It is *incredibly* easy to blame individuals for their behaviors. We are all scared, sad, uncertain, and frustrated. And we *love* Just-So Stories and morality tales.

But no one--no one--deserves to get sick.

But every single person in the US who gets sick is a failure of our health care system and our economic system.

Above all, it's a failure of our *national* public health leadership.

Blaming each other, as individuals, for decisions that are a matter of our collective, public health is the distraction.

Solidarity with each other. Accountability from our leaders and our systems.

[going back to sewing facemasks for preschoolers in a disadvantaged area of Boston and writing a book about infrastructural systems now]