If you've been conscious for any part of the last nine months, you've probably gotten into an argument about COVID regulations. I've heard the full range of objectively false arguments: masks don't work, masks make you sick, the whole pandemic was a conspiracy to hurt Donald Trump that the entire world was apparently in on, lockdowns are an attempt to institute socialism, Bill Gates is trying to microchip us, etc.

Especially towards the beginning of the pandemic, many of these arguments tried to shift severity away from the pandemic. They tried to prove that the pandemic just wasn't that big of a deal after all. Masks don't work, so people should walk around and do whatever they want without one. Lockdowns are unconstitutional, so everything should go back to normal. Even in the most insane conspiracy theories about microchipping and global conspiracies, it was clear that the argument being made was that COVID itself, as a virus, wasn't actually that big of a deal.

As the months have dragged on, however, people's disbelief has seemed to give way to apathy. Although the straight-up denial of the pandemic is still present, more and more people opposing measures to contain it will concede that it's a problem. They admit that it's deadly, and a lot of them will even admit that, if nothing is done to contain it, there will be thousands of completely avoidable deaths.

They just don't care.

Boiled down, many of these arguments against mask regulations, restricted business hours, and anything less than a return to normal life are really just a personal decision as to which (and how many) people they're willing to let die. And that's horrifying.

When the CDC came out with a report showing that the majority of COVID fatalities were people with underlying medical conditions, it was used as proof (particularly on social media) that COVID restrictions were over-the-top. There was a general sense that if someone was already sick and COVID pushed them over the edge then that was sad and all, but it wasn't really a 'COVID death.' The implication in these arguments wasn't all that subtle; many people saw COVID fatalities as acceptable if the sick person was already ill or unhealthy.

Of course, those using this argument ignored the fact that 60% of Americans fall into the category of those with underlying health conditions that could exacerbate COVID. But the number of people with those conditions doesn't make the argument more or less disgusting. Regardless of how many people have these health conditions, the idea that a person with a condition or health concern dying from COVID is somehow not as tragic or not a 'real COVID death' is horrific and cruel. It borders on eugenics.

If your argument for easing COVID restrictions is that it's mostly older people and people with health issues who are dying, you don't only need to rethink your views on the pandemic. You need to rethink your morals, because they're significantly lacking.