Taylor Lorenz on COVID-Era Policies We're Supposed to Forget

The Forgotten Revolutionary Year of 2020

• 💡 The year 2020 is framed as a revolutionary period in US history, marked by government policies that provided unprecedented support to citizens, which are now largely forgotten due to a deliberate propaganda campaign.
• 💰 Policies like the CARES Act, which offered direct financial assistance and enhanced unemployment benefits, and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, mandating paid sick leave and increasing food assistance, significantly reduced poverty and food insecurity.
• 🏥 States implemented progressive measures such as free child care and universal free school meals, while federal programs expanded access to healthcare through Medicare and Medicaid, and teleahealth services.
• 🏠 Housing insecurity was addressed through federal programs and a nationwide eviction moratorium, demonstrating the possibility of prioritizing public good with a fraction of military or tax cut spending.

The Intentional Erasure of Pandemic Progress

• 🧠 The shift away from these supportive policies is described as intentional, driven by a desire to return to a pre-2020 "normal" and a retreat into individualism.
• 🗣️ Pandemic denialism, amplified by both the right and some liberals, has led to a collective "memory-holing" of 2020's achievements and a downplaying of the ongoing pandemic.
• ⚠️ The rise of figures like RFK Jr. is linked to this anxiety and the lack of guaranteed healthcare, allowing charlatans to exploit fears by promoting individualistic health solutions over public health.

Individualism vs. Public Health and Labor Rights

• 😷 The shift from collective solidarity during the early pandemic (e.g., masking for others) to an individualistic view of public health is highlighted, where personal choices are prioritized over shared responsibility.
• 🏢 This individualistic mindset, coupled with a push to return to unsafe working conditions, has made COVID-19 a major labor issue, with workers lacking protections like paid sick leave and safe environments.
• 📉 The narrative that COVID-19 has magically disappeared is a dangerous propaganda effort, ignoring the ongoing harm of the disease and its impact on long COVID and immune systems.

Political Denialism and the Future of Public Health

• 🏫 The decision to reopen schools quickly, despite the profound costs, is criticized as a politically motivated choice that fed into a right-wing narrative, ignoring the risks to vulnerable populations and the long-term effects on children.
• 🏥 Even healthcare workers are being discouraged from wearing masks, indicating a systemic failure to implement basic public health protections and mitigations.
• ✊ Labor organizers have explicitly cited the lack of pandemic protections as a catalyst for unionization efforts, underscoring the need for worker protections, paid sick leave, and accessible testing.
• 🌍 The US lags behind other countries in implementing necessary public health measures, driven by a capitalist system that prioritizes commercial real estate and forces people back to work in unsafe conditions, ignoring the lessons learned from the pandemic.