Rod Watson: Just when we need it most, Bills fever breaks

I say this despite new figures showing a convincing correlation between the recent vaccine mandates and a spike in the numbers of shots going into arms.

But the reality is that most of that increase no doubt had to do with what normal people would consider the essential aspects of life.

A Buffalo News visual timeline graphically illustrates that our most notable bumps in vaccination rates occurred when colleges resumed a few weeks ago and mandated that students be inoculated, when President Biden demanded the same of federal workers and, most notably, when the state mandate on health care workers kicked in this week.

Nevertheless, despite those 11th hour – some might say pre-death bed – conversions, the number of Western New Yorkers getting at least their first dose still stood at only about 63.6% as of the start of Tuesday, according to figures on the state’s Demographic Vaccine Data website.

That’s why – even though school and work are undoubtedly important – I had put my confidence in what I thought was Western New York’s ultimate ace in the hole. Once we played it, I was sure the virus would be vanquished as thoroughly as the Miami Dolphins and the Washington Name-to-be-Named-Laters.

But it appears our ace in the hole has gone down the drain. While there was a slight uptick in vaccination after Erie County and the team applied the requirement to anyone attending Buffalo Bills games, it was nowhere near as large as the increases accompanying the other mandates.

Astoundingly in fact – given the reverence in which we hold a winning football team – at least 762 season-ticket holders decided to turn in their passes to paradise instead of obtaining shots. Equally shocking, Sunday’s game wasn’t even sold out, with the announced attendance below that of the Sept. 12 crowd, before the mandate kicked in.

How could this possibly be, and where does this leave us? And who could have known?

When it comes to fighting Covid, I would have bet money on the people who paint their chests red and blue and take off their shirts in 20-degree weather, immune to the question when they get home on game night and their kids ask, “Daddy, what did you do today?”

But as the 21st century philosopher Donald Rumsfeld once said, there are known knowns, there are known unknowns, and there are unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.

I guess after “wide right” and “home run throwback,” I should have known: The one time that Bills mania actually could have done us some good, the fever has broken.

Just our luck.

In another context, one might take heart from the fact that in balancing Bills devotion against other strongly held beliefs, so many “fanatics” have instead proven relatively sane.

On the other hand, their refusal to get vaccinated rules out that possibility.

In any case, the bottom line is that we’re going to have to resort to more traditional means of getting shots into arms than rallying around the football team – which is perhaps not surprising, given the idiotic obstinacy of some of the team’s own stars.

Our rate of 63.5% for those getting at least one shot is just slightly below the national rate of 64.5%, as calculated by the Mayo Clinic’s vaccine tracker. But that national rate includes states like Florida and Texas, where ignorance is considered a birthright.

Being anywhere near that level is nothing for Western New York to be proud of.

That’s why the mandates imposed by the state, the county, the Bills and many other private businesses and venues are a necessary step to protect us from the ignorant, the gullible and the self-centered. They are essential to safeguard us from those willing to risk infecting others with a deadly disease every time they breathe, laugh or talk.

But despite the new requirements, we are still not anywhere near the vaccination rates experts estimate are necessary to reach herd immunity and stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. And now it appears we might never get there.

I had put my faith in people silly enough to think that a football team will save us.

It turns out I was sillier than they are, because apparently the paranoia over getting a Covid-19 shot is more powerful even than Bills fever.

As Rumsfeld might say, who knew?