No Connection

Everything is going in the wrong direction.

The doctor wants to give me more injections,

Giving me shots for a thousand rare infections.

And I don't know if he'll let me go.[1]

With the pandemic having been around for the better part of two years now, it is hard to believe that this song was written already five and a half decades ago. But then, crazy bugs have existed much longer than mankind. It just seems that this time we haven't found a proper way to deal with them. Or have we?

If you look around the world, which you have to, because it is a pandemic after all, not surprisingly there is quite a variety of different recipes. On one end of the spectrum there are overly strict measures and isolation regulations accompanied by mandatory vaccinations. Isolation is how one dealt with the plague in the darker ages, because it was the only thing one could do then, and it did prove to be effective in a way. This policy is still being followed by governments of a more authoritarian character and seems to be acceptable to societies used to that kind of guidance. On the other end is the “We don't give a damn, it's gonna blow over soon” attitude, advocated by populist regimes at the beginning to keep their populace happy. This one has more or less blown over itself in most places for obvious reasons.

The majority of pest control policies hovers somewhere in the middle, setting some rules, offering vaccinations for everybody and still allowing some freedom of choice. Astounding are the very different outcomes of basically the same idea. In some countries it works remarkably well, particularly in those which suffered most in the beginning with lots of deaths and long-lasting, hardly debated lock-downs. The key ingredient here is probably plain fear: “Oh my God, if I don't get my shots it's going to kill me like it killed Umberto.”

In countries with very efficient public health care and an effective policy at the start to be followed by rather loose recommendations to make people happy again (and therefore inclined to express their gratitude at oncoming elections) the situation turned out to be suboptimal. Below-average vaccinations rates, inconsequent control mechanisms and, probably most dangerous, incomprehensible individual and quite divergent federal regulations have led to a renewed increase of infections and hospitalizations in you-know-where.

Whereas some may have secretly enjoyed the pre-Christmas lock-down in 2020, which relieved them of their duties to hunt for presents and to drink mulled wine with the jerks from the office in the biting cold, most people would now like to see a return to what was formerly known as normal. Politicians encourage booster shots and keep promising full football-stadiums, open Christmas markets with or without facemasks depending on which side of the river you live, unlimited shopping… – but then maybe we should test everybody, including the vaccinated, again when they want to visit granny in the nursing home. Or should we?

I am sorry, but all of this has become rather tiring, confusing and frustrating for too long, especially for those who followed the rules right from the start and felt proud that the government trusted us to be mature and responsible citizens. Little did we all know, apparently, and thus many of us trying to understand what is going on now, still have to join the disappointing chorus:

Connection, I just can't make no connection,

But all I want to do is to get back to you.[1]

Publication History

Article published online:
10 December 2021

• Reference

• 1 Jagger M, Richards K. Connection. London: The Decca Record Co. Ltd.; 1967. . Published by ABKCO Music, Inc. (BMI)