For most of us, we’ve been in this weird state of staying home, wearing masks when out, not seeing distant family and friends, etc, for almost a year. The majority of us aren’t even leaving the house at all. It’s upsetting to the people who are putting in all this effort to keep cases down, to look at our favorite celebrities pretending that covid doesn’t exist. The privilege of having wealth and overwhelming fame, you would think that it would be easier for them to stay in their huge mansions, and enjoy having peace and quiet from celebrities. I mean, that’s what it seemed like in the beginning of all of this. You had influencers like Tik Tok star Charli D’amelio live streaming pleading to her young followers and fans that they stay home, follow their states protocols, and wear masks. Singers like Harry Styles and Rita Ora were making merch with slogans that encouraged their fans to act responsibly and safely. We all thought it was amazing that they were using their large platforms to encourage fans, and spread awareness, but it didn’t last for long.

By June, only three months after originally shutting down all productions, Hollywood started filming again. During this time, support from celebrities and influencers were offered to the graduating class of 2020. These celebrities were praised for their ongoing support for fans, and every day people. Praised for doing the bare minimum, for a second time. During this time, while schools couldn’t have proms, or graduations, these same celebrities were recording new music, filming new movies, and still encouraging everyone to follow protocols. For a third time, they were praised. Praised for making new content, but doing it safely. I mean, it was estimated that cases would go down within a couple months, things would go back to normal, so the world might as well start opening now. That was a bad idea.

Almost a year later, if wearing masks in public was normal, you wouldn’t even have known what went down last year. Everything is open, and I mean everything. Restaurant capacity is constantly bouncing down and up, but fire hazard rules are being changed daily. The lines outside of stores would just make you assume shopping is popular again. 

So in reality, it seems like we completely forgot what even happened. Despite the world going on, cases are rising everyday, and people are still dying. It’s irresponsible for people with such big platforms, that are in the public eye constantly, to be encouraging irresponsible behavior.