The wave is certainly sloshing in rural northern Michigan where I live. We were almost untouched by the initial wave of the pandemic last winter and spring.

Sadly, when August rolled around, a university in the county seat opened up for on-campus learning, and a viral wave began to slosh right over us.

Infection rates and death rates soared, and they are still increasing.

Sadly, the people up here are treating the pandemic as a political rather than as a medical event. Many people are refusing to wear masks or socially distance, mostly citing their loyalty to President Trump, claiming either that the pandemic is a hoax or that its severity is.

I’m supposing those ideas were largely cemented during the early months of the pandemic when nothing happened up here.

But they have become so entrenched that people don’t want to change their behavior even though the situation is getting very difficult. Our small hospital is straining to meet needs, pushed beyond capacity. Medical professionals are begging people to take the pandemic more seriously.

But so far, that is not happening.