With individuals demonstrating so little self-restraint, Covid is now determining our evolution—and which societies are fit for survival.

(Originally published Dec. 17 in “What in the World“) Omicron is spreading around the globe with frightening speed, forcing a wave of cancellations, revived mask mandates and travel restrictions—with France banning nonessential travel to the U.K. Omicron now threatens to upend the Holidays in Europe and lay waste to the U.S., where health officials are warning of a massive surge in January.

The new variant’s rapid spread prompted U.S. President Joe Biden to warn unvaccinated citizens of a “winter of severe illness and death” if they continue to refuse the jab. But even with 800,000 dead, there is a sort of fatalism settling over America as this new phase of the pandemic unfolds. The U.S. has failed at every turn to mount any serious defense against this pandemic, so why should it be any different now with Omicron?

It all comes back to a short-sighted, dull-witted refusal by individuals to make the short-term sacrifices necessary to prevent the long-term—and often permanent—pain and loss caused by the virus. Even the smallest infringement on personal convenience is seen by many as an intolerable infringement on their immediate freedoms. In the pandemic’s earliest days, people refused to stay indoors for two weeks to break the virus’ chain of transmission. Now, two years into the pandemic, they still refuse to do what is necessary to end it.

In perhaps the most maddening irony, the Pentagon is being forced to dismiss members of America’s armed services for refusing orders to get vaccinated, despite their having sworn an oath to protect the nation from enemies foreign and domestic and obey superior officers and the U.S. President. Despite their motto “semper fi” (always faithful), more than 100 Marines have been booted for refusing to be vaccinated and thereby protect the weak. And the White House is being forced to appeal to America’s highest court to overturn legal resistance among the country’s healthcare workers—the very people we count on to dole out the latest in medical science—to a requirement that they avail of vaccines themselves.

In Europe, meanwhile, Alpine hillbillies continue to wave off vaccines against this new pathogen in favor of traditional and largely useless herbal panaceas, thereby giving the virus safe quarter. Clean air and herbal teas might increase the strength of young, fit individuals to fend off the virus, but what of their weaker compatriots?

In America, the reasons for this apparent apathy may say a lot about the nation’s divisions. After all, the virus doesn’t affect all Americans equally, which is perhaps why so many don’t see much value in doing their part to fight against it. The virus, after all, exacts a disproportionate toll on older Americans, on the poor, and on minorities. So to that, Celine Gounder writes in The Atlantic, America’s retort is clear: “We do not value the elderly. We do not value Black and brown Americans.”

It’s not the greatest advertisement for Western-style democracy, with its emphasis on individual liberty. Asia’s collective action and top-down restrictions appear to be doing much better at protecting citizens of all ages and income levels against Covid’s scourge thus far. There, individuals are, if the trend holds, still freer from the fear of dying from Covid than their fellows in the West. Jefferson said the tree of liberty needed to be fed with the blood of patriots, but are Covid’s victims really bleeding for freedom? Or are they suffocating for the freedom of the selfish and privileged?