Maybe you should read my response again. I used the word terrified. As in, Only go out once a week for shopping only, wear masks outdoors, avoiding family because they hadn’t had their shots, had been on an airplane, stopped going out to their own doctors appointments and ended up with permanent neurological damage. These guys sat around watching CNN all day.
The oldies were hit really hard with the non stop fear porn. Some like mine will never recover. I am far from immortal at 51 but what my folks are doing, is not living. Sure, they are alive though. Such a shame - stepfather was a very successful aircraft engineer and actually revolutionized some of Boeing’s production lines. Nowadays he smacks himself in the head with his arm about every 20 mins. People don’t make smart decisions when they are terrified.
See the difference now Henro?
Actually during the first year of the pandemic your parents were acting reasonably for elderly people. Today maintaining that same behavior seems excessive.
While it could be exactly as you describe I cant help but wonder if you have exaggerated the situation a bit. Doesn’t matter though. I get your point.
You want to get together as a family and the parents are concerned about the possibility of catching a virus. You see them as being terrified, and they probably see themselves as being reasonable in their approach.
Some of this is the result of reacting to a very real threat during the first year of the pandemic when no Covid vaccines were available. Doing then what your parents are doing now may have saved their lives. Or may have been a waste of time. Luck plays a part in what happens too.
I’ve noticed myself hesitating to stop wearing a mask everywhere but recently got past that. Rarely wear one now…
I certainly agree there needs to be a transition back to at least the new normal. We will be going to our daughter’s for thanksgiving dinner. The granddaughter will be past the point of worry. We have our flu shots. We are just operating as we would have before this Covid thing came up.
Hopefully your parents will gradually find a way to transition to the new normal, which I expect will be very much like things used to be when we got flu shots (or didn’t) and didn’t worry excessively.