–19

Ultimately, the vaccine failed. In the U.S., the population grew increasingly restive and sharply divided. Two factions spontaneously formed. One believed in strict physical prevention – distancing, layers of masking, quarantine, isolation. They relentlessly screened and tested, resulting in a disease-free population that once established could live well behind ramparts, entirely divorced from the outside world. A second insisted individualism was paramount. They threw off their masks, crowded bars and stadiums, and handled illness as the human race always has: the sick rested and recovered – or didn't. People buried their dead. Life and civilization went on. Absolute disclosure v. Absolute liberty. Faith in science v. Faith in God. Community v. Individuality. Spontaneously formed. The government, under crushing pressure to solve the problem, twice relented, issuing two massive land grants: "Here, show us your solution." In the American Southwest a pair of nations were created: Honesty and Freedom, each offering assurance and optimism. People joined in droves. Against endless and unrelenting waves of the disease, the only remaining weapon was hope. —19 presents two first-person accounts.