‘Normal’ belongs to 'anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers'
An Ottawa doctor Wednesday became angry over the notion of getting back to normal in a post-COVID world and declared “normal” to be offensive and a “far-Right” myth.
Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, MD, CCFP, PhD made the comment during an episode of The Agenda podcast, appearing masked and alone in her office as she spoke with host Steve Paikin.
“It’s become clear that the message from the provincial government is, ‘We’re all getting back to normal now folks,’” prompted Paikin. “Let’s start there. Are we back to normal?”
Kaplan-Myrth answered that the word itself is offensive.
“The language that you use when you say something like ‘normal’ is a far-right language of anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers and ableists who disregard the impact of COVID on seniors, on children, on educators, on essential workers, on health care workers [and] on our health care crisis,” Kaplan-Myrth answered. “There’s nothing normal about getting COVID, repeated infections, children and adults being hospitalized.”
The physician also said “it is inappropriate to say masks are some form of hardship. They are not. They are not cruelty.”
Kaplan-Myrth prominently states on her website that “Masks are required for all appointments.” She lists her pronouns on Twitter, where she has nearly 48,000 followers. She dedicates her posts primarily to trying to keep the pandemic alive and becoming outraged when people push back.
Kaplan-Myrth appears to be just one of a newly formed subset of the population whose members have been psychologically broken from the pandemic.
Some Twitter users have publicly confessed to the sin of taking off their mask at certain times.
“I'll take this opportunity to publicly admit that I have, on *rare* occasions, been maskless indoors in these past two and a half years. I believe in masking but I'm not perfect. Anyone else?” - @dianaberrent
“I was indoors, masked, waiting for my takeout order at a burger place. They sat me in the bar to wait and they offered me a glass of water. I took my mask out briefly to drink the whole glass at once, without breathing, bc I was dying of thirst. That has been the only time.” - @ocelotito
“We had a kid need stitches on their face recently. During a covid peak, when immunocompromised under-5 sib still wasn't eligible for the vaccine, she had to have someone give stitches with their face all up in hers. So we had to cut an N95 around the wound, use fashion tape, and hope for the best.” - @barbapapa858688
“I have been unmasked indoors for dental cleanings twice when cases were locally low (4% positivity or lower). Other than that, nope. Not once. And no indoor dining since Feb 2020.” - @martinhondros
“Couple times to return trash or serveware in café patios, but always holding my breath and getting in and out in under a minute. Odd couple of times I had to change masks at airports or hospitals, same thing though, hold breath and do it quick." - @vicenteegm
“I haven't been to any gatherings like dinners, conferences, or on a plane or anywhere else where removing a mask is part of the situation. I guess you could fly without removing your elastomeric, but I'm not comfortable flying yet.” - @squirrelpalooza
“I had necessary dental work 3x. Put it off as long as I could but it was urgent. Only once did I voluntarily not wear a mask indoors in 2.5 years & I’ll never do it again. Your point stands: demanding absolute perfection isn’t necessary. Masking indoors is harm reduction.” - @MrsMunnWheeler
“I ate the meal at a close friend's indoor wedding in May of 2021. We were freshly vaxxed, case counts were miniscule compared to now. Only unmasked to eat. Otherwise, no, not once since May of 2020.” - @FrankCianfrani
“Not even once, but we got Covid (and then Long Covid) in Dec 2020 from sharing a hallway/stairs with out [sic] *downstairs neighbors*, couldn’t risk getting it again. We didn’t used to mask in our stairwell, but now we do every single time.” - @j40257
