Mary Mallon was a cook for wealthy families in New York City, apparently good and reliable at her job so she had no trouble finding work. But everywhere she worked, family members died of typhoid fever. Mary was visibly healthy and felt well, and popular understanding at the time was that typhoid fever was in the water, so there was no reason to suspect that it was her fault until health officials tracked the illnesses and discovered that Miss Mallon was the one common factor. Even though she was healthy, Mary was carrying and spreading the disease.
So they told her that she had to stop working as a cook. She didn't understand, and because ‘everybody knew’ that typhoid fever was in the water, even the advice to wash her hands frequently must have seemed perversely unhelpful. All the same, she laid off for a while, working as a maid for far less money, but ultimately went back to work as cook for a new family – and sickness and death followed her. Finally officials had to lock her into a hospital for the rest of her life, and she became known in the always awful New York press as, I'm sure you have guessed, ‘Typhoid Mary’.
Mary Mallon's case was a tragedy. She needed to work and had no good alternative, and there was no vaccine (circa 1910) that might have made her less contagious, but ultimately this was no matter: No one has the right to spread a deadly disease, even when they themselves seem to be perfectly healthy. No one has the right to be Typhoid Mary, not even poor, innocent Mary Mallon.
Fortunately, in the present plague, we do have a vaccine that can prevent transmission of the disease and we know a lot more now about transmissible diseases in general, so no one today can make Mary Mallon's excuses. Even the asymptomatic and unknowing may spread the disease, but the best data show that vaccinations prevent transmission – more or less depending on the viral variant (the Delta variant is a slippery and hard-hitting enemy), but so far they protect not just the recipients of the vaccine but everyone around them.
The temptation, of course, is to just shake our heads and let the unvaccinated fools kill themselves off, and maybe give them a collective Darwin Award for their efforts to scrub themselves from the gene pool, but the risk for the rest of us is that unvaccinated people might, and often do, unwittingly – asymptomatically – incubate new variants against which even the responsibly vaccinated have limited or no protection. This is a game of Russian Roulette with more and more bullets per spin, and the unvaccinated are playing with other people's lives. Already we're facing several variants that are between 150% and 200% as transmissible as was the original Wuhan strain last year, most notably to children and young adults who were previously safe from serious infection. The future isn't bright. Until we smother this fire, pour water on it, and stomp on the ashes, new variants will continue to develop, putting everyone at increased, possibly substantially increased, risk.
* * *
So now we are facing a ‘surge’ of Delta variant Covid cases in several states – Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and Nevada are the worst at the moment – mitigated by an approximate 50% vaccination rate nationwide but lower in those states (surprise!). As autumn and winter approach, the situation is expected to get much worse, as it did last year and the flu does every year. Some people call this observation fear-mongering and unscientific because the worst hasn't yet arrived. Doctors who understand respiratory diseases, and anyone else who is paying attention, call it a reasonable prediction.
In the United States, we're already at 630,000 Covid deaths out of a population of 330,000,000, a rate of one person for every five hundred twenty four. Take a moment to consider that number, and then take another to pick your jaw up off of the floor! The prospect of another hundred thousand deaths, or worse, is not welcome. Before the Delta variant was the dominant strain, we were promised that getting vaccinated would free us from mask mandates, and so it has to date, but too many people didn't listen and Delta is on the rampage, so now we're seeing renewed masking recommendations and mandates. (Thanks a lot!) We can still stop this and maybe enjoy an unmasked autumn (and a proper Halloween party!), but only if people will step up.
The point is: Don't be a jerk. Your ‘trust’ in your own immune system is no comfort to the rest of us. You're not allowed to drive drunk just because you think that you can handle it, or to shoot wildly into the sky above populated areas because you think that gravity doesn't apply to you, or to keep dynamite or nuclear weapons in your home, whatever might possess you to do that! Even if such stupidity were legal it would be inexcusable because you have neighbors, and you aren't (I trust) a hermit. It's not just about you. Nor is Covid vaccination, or failure to get vaccinated, simply personal. We are all in the crosshairs of your disease.
Just make an appointment and get your shot(s) now. I regret that I must press the issue, but we're not imposing on you. You're imposing on us. The shot is free and no, you aren't too busy. But until then, Dear Mary, keep your disease to yourself.
, anyway! – so I apologize for the oversight.