Looking for cause and effect among our fellow Americans...

Today's puzzle in our on-going attempt to understand fellow humans begins with this: According to a site that tracks police deaths, 460 officers have died of Covid thus far, which is four times as many who died from violence/shootings.

The puzzle grows from another statistic: police officers across the nation are more reluctant than many groups to get vaccinated, despite their constant exposure to potentially infected people. If guns don't kill people -- PEOPLE kill people -- what do we say about the virus? 

Viruses don't kill people -- people kill people? I can't quite grasp a meaning from that question, but you may get the idea. How do we explain fellow humans who seem more afraid of a vaccine shot than a bullet?

One possible explanation is that police officers are, by nature, much more likely to identify as right wing, authoritarian, and white... and Republican. So it is no surprise that they reflect the same vaccine hesitation as those in their tribe.

Another is that the job is dangerous enough that the risk of Covid deaths doesn't rise to the top of the list of things to fear.

Another is that any group that is routinely disliked and criticized tends to circle the wagons and "fight the rules" when possible. 

Many cities and states are fudging their vaccine mandates, saying that the potential for so many law enforcement officers to quit over the mandate is too likely and too dangerous to the system. After all, if a leader/government issues an order and no one obeys... well, the options are not good for the authorities.

Everything is more complicated than any cursory story in the New York Times, and I suspect that police union power struggles add to the problem (much like the Southwest pilots saying they are not anti-vax, but want some assurances that if they get sick FROM the vaccination, they will not be abandoned or penalized). 

Or perhaps I should just shake my head and not worry about the problem. In the end, unvaccinated people will eventually get sick, most will recover (though not all), and the pandemic will continue to ratchet down. Right?

And those union issues about contract details will be ironed out. Right?

NOTE: Due to a family celebration and lack of computer access, this blog will be on hiatus until Tuesday, Oct. 19. This is the first extensive break this calendar year, when I began this experiment (and self-therapy). This is post #177, for those keeping score (so this is a note to myself).