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Hrm, this article is unfortunate. It conflates two separate groups of people who aren rejecting quarantine and mask-wearing: Right wing nuts showing loyalty to Trump and young people whose resolve has collapsed. Often two very different groups! https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2020/3/24/21191184/coronavirus-masks-social-distancing-memorial-day-pandemic-keep-calm-carry-on-fauci
I think it would be better if we stopped talking about young people who are socializing for apolitical reasons as “scofflaws” and conflating them with the Karens and Kens assaulting store clerks in the name of the MAGA faith.
Young people are victims here. They were put under strict lockdown but assured it would be temporary. But the government failed to come up with meaningful measures to contain the virus. Now these young folks are being told to stay home, watching life pass them by, indefinitely.
Faced with a strict binary of endless loneliness and misery or going to parties, I’m not surprised young people pick the latter! Contrary to what some of us older folks think, the young know youth is fleeting! But they should never have been put in an all-or-nothing situation.
The ideal thing would have been a government response that prevented this from spiraling in the first place. In lieu of that, it’s time to stop being abstinence-only scolds and think strategically about offering young people risk management instead of all-or-nothing.
Because if you tell people their choices are all or nothing, you can’t be surprised when they choose “all”. Young people need guidance on how to balance very real socialization needs with reducing risks. Shouldn’t have come to this, but here we are.
You know, the fact that the protests didn’t seem to lead to COVID spikes creates a real opportunity to think about how to balance people’s very real socialization needs with reducing the viral spread.
It’s a bummer, because while people mean well in scolding young people to just stay home and never socialize at all until 
, that instruction is probably causing the virus to spread more. Because if the measure for success is impossible, people give up trying altogether.
, that instruction is probably causing the virus to spread more. Because if the measure for success is impossible, people give up trying altogether.
The reason “never fuck” fails and “wear a condom” succeeds is the latter is manageable. Thus, abstinence-only messages result in more viral spread, as people continue to have sex but don’t take any precautions at all.
“Never drive” fails. “Wear a seatbelt” succeeds. “Become an Olympic athlete” fails. “Exercise 30 minutes five times a week” succeeds. Young people are throwing all caution to the wind because they’ve got no instruction on how to strike a balance.
