I assume most of you have been watching in dismay as the number of Covid-19 cases rises again thanks primarily to the Delta variant. For a minute we thought we could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the combination of the new strain and the same old anti-vax arguments sealed the opening and sent us back to practically the start of our journey.

Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

Why do stubborn and/or misinformed and/or ignorant people have a monopoly on our elected offices and talk-radio microphones? Why don’t their followers listen when Covid-stricken leaders on their deathbeds urge them to get vaccinated?

Half of my Facebook feed is furious with the unvaccinated folks, and the other half is depressed and anxious and wants to make like crabs and become hermits. (I’ve been “unfriended” by most of my so-called friends of the Covid-denier set.) I feel like a pendulum swinging both ways.

I’ve read dozens of articles cautioning vaccinated people not to lecture the unvaccinated because that will only make them dig in their heels. Doesn’t that make them sound like 5-year-olds?

And speaking of 5-year-olds, the new surge of cases is affecting children far more than the original coronavirus did. Pediatric ICUs are filling up. Children under 12 (the earliest age allowed to get the vaccine) are catching the disease at record rates and even dying. Yet the Knox County Board of Education refuses to use the common sense it showed last April and is playing, not the game of Life, but a deadly game of chance with our kids and our community.

There’s a growing number of people voicing the hope that, with children now in the crosshairs, our county and the rest of the country will finally double down and do what’s necessary to contain the virus. They think that surely the unvaccinated will come to their senses and accept the advice of scientists and doctors – and take one for the team.

Maybe this pandemic is revealing my cynical side, but I don’t share their hope. Look at our elected leaders. Look at the school board. They aren’t looking out for the children.

The children. When’s the last time this country put them first?

I can’t say for sure, but I know it was prior to Dec. 14, 2012. That’s when a 20-year-old male slaughtered 20 6- and 7-year-olds at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The nation was shocked and appalled. Calls for tougher gun laws reached a fever pitch. Promises were made. And nothing was solved.

Not even for the children.

Good luck, kids. You’re on your own this time, too.

Betsy Pickle is a veteran reporter and editor who occasionally likes to share her opinions with KnoxTNToday readers.