War Games Revisited

We can explore some pandemic realities together by combining some of the aspects of the movie, The Silent Spring, with some of the aspects of the movie, War Games. The grim reaper in the form of the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant, the predominant form of the virus, while shapeshifting into omicron form is asking, do you want to play a game? Since the game is already well afoot we can’t say no. Covid has already killed some 800,000 Americans and will kill at least 200,000 more by year’s end. What weapons are available.? We have vaccines, we have antivirals, we have antibiotics, we can mask or unmask, we can social distance or not, we can acknowledge that the virus controls the economy and that it’s not that other way around; that world cooperation and sharing is the only way out of the dilemma. I had a call from a friend a few weeks ago in which she recounted a case of severe paralysis and death in someone who had received a vaccine and therefore was forgoing her second Pfizer jab. I learned later in the conversation that the episode was in Russia and the DNA shot was an old-fashioned concoction.

Were I the virus and needed Homo sapiens as a host I would borrow antigen from the flu and add it to my spike. This might produce a milder but more infectious disease (omicron?). I would attack children whose habits and ability to mask, social distance, self-sanitize, etc., are unruly as well as under the control of officials battling with parents and one another. I would concentrate on the poor whose work and very existence demand public exposure. If I didn’t need Homo sapiens and just wanted the planet I would encourage individual choice over cooperation and help spread disinformation, misinformation, and chaos. I would know that climate change and authoritarian leadership make benign mandating virtually impossible. Do you want to play a game?