This is a Covid rant. We all have them, no matter what \u201cside\u201d of Covid you\u2019re on. And let\u2019s think a bit about that sentence. Here in the \u201cmodern world\u201d, where we have made amazing progress and found vaccines for a killer disease in less than a year, we have made the \u201cdisease\u201d a political issue. No wonder the world looks at the United States with head shaking amazement. The nation that thinks it\u2019s the best \u2013 is still leading when it comes to Covid deaths. The United States leads the world with over 860,000 deaths in the past two years. Brazil comes in a far second with 620,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remember the first few months of Covid?\u00a0\u00a0Some said it was no worse than \u201cthe flu\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0In the worst year in the past decade, it\u2019s estimated 50,000\u00a0\u00a0died in the US from the flu.\u00a0\u00a0Covid \u2013 averaged over eight times that number.\u00a0\u00a0OK, so where do we stand now?\u00a0\u00a0We are a Nation \u201csick and tired\u201d of Covid.\u00a0\u00a0As a whole, we seem to not care anymore.\u00a0\u00a0800,000 gone, a million on the horizon, and why not?\u00a0\u00a0Certainly our politics are so much more important than people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are the lies \u2013 and what do we do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Vaccines don\u2019t work<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0except they do.\u00a0\u00a0The first area is in prevention of disease, protecting us from Covid.\u00a0\u00a0For the original Covid variant here in the United States, the Beta version, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were 90% or better in preventing infection.\u00a0\u00a0In the six months from the vaccine rollout to universal adult availability, we could have gotten control of Covid.\u00a0\u00a0But, since only around 60% of American adults got vaccinated, we remained vulnerable to the next variant \u2013 the Delta variant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Delta was more than twice as infective as Beta, and the vaccines worked at about 80% effectiveness.\u00a0\u00a0Not quite as good as against the Beta version, but still preventing a lot of disease.\u00a0\u00a0And then the Omicron variant arrived, just in time for Christmas.\u00a0\u00a0Omicron was even more infective than Delta, a \u201cten\u201d to Delta\u2019s \u201cseven\u201d. The vaccines showed diminished protection from Omicron, unless a third \u201cbooster\u201d was included.\u00a0\u00a0Then protection was back to 80% or better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, in the works, is a vaccine that could actually protect against all corona-viruses. It may still be a year away, but is the next \u201cbest answer\u201d to Covid variations. So the bottom line is while the current vaccines aren\u2019t perfect, they do provide increased protection from the current Covid variants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Covid deaths are exaggerated\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 but they aren\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0What about those break-through infections, despite vaccination?\u00a0\u00a0Vaccinated folks are much less likely to be hospitalized, or end up in an ICU, or dead.\u00a0\u00a0The toll in the United States is averaging almost 2000 Covid deaths a day.\u00a0\u00a0Of the 2000 dying from Covid, it\u2019s estimated that more than 90% of them are unvaccinated.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The unvaccinated are dying from Covid. For the vast majority of those dying; they made a choice, \u201cexercised their freedom\u201d, and died as a result. If that\u2019s not the definition of\u2026well, however you categorize that decision, it\u2019s probably best not to go there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Just an aside. Over 90% of Americans regularly wear their seatbelt in a car. Statistics show that almost half the people killed in car accidents were not wearing their seat belts. So of the more than 22,000 killed in car wrecks in 2019, the 10% non-belt wearers made up half of the deaths. The moral of the story, you have an astronomically better chance of surviving a wreck with a seat belt on – you get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 72% of Americans have at least one dose of a Covid vaccine. Just like with seat belts, of the 2000 Americans dying each day from Covid, over 90% are unvaccinated. That means that the vast majority of those who die from Covid are from the 18%. The conclusion seems crystal clear. You can refuse to wear a seatbelt. You can refuse to get vaccinated. I guess you are exercising your \u201cfreedom of choice\u201d, to risk you own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We weren\u2019t ready for Omicron<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s not a lie, it\u2019s true.\u00a0\u00a0Why wasn\u2019t the US government, read those \u201cDemocrats\u201d in the Biden Administration, ready for Omicron?\u00a0\u00a0Didn\u2019t they realize that the next variation would be more infective (if less deadly)?\u00a0\u00a0Why weren\u2019t they ready with millions (or billions) of tests?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The answer to that is simple. They can\u2019t solve a problem that they don\u2019t know about. It was Thanksgiving, less than two months ago, that the newest variant was detected in South Africa. Now, with astonishing speed it is the dominant strain of Covid worldwide. Before Thanksgiving, the Biden Administration strategy was sound: vaccinate as many as possible. With the Delta variant, vaccinations worked well, and kept people from getting Covid, or if they did, getting seriously ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Omicron was more infective, so more people got sick.\u00a0\u00a0It was different enough that the vaccines didn\u2019t do as well in protecting from infection (through it still prevented serious disease).\u00a0\u00a0If vaccinations aren\u2019t the answer, then prevention of spread, through testing, is.\u00a0\u00a0And that\u2019s the pivot we are in now.\u00a0\u00a0Vaccinations are still critically important, but testing will allow the economy to continue to boom.\u00a0\u00a0Test negative, and get back to work.\u00a0\u00a0Test negative, and go to school.\u00a0\u00a0Or, test negative and go in the game.\u00a0\u00a0All of that depends on the availability of tests. And they are coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Teachers are looking for excuses to stay home.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0We hear national \u201ccommentators\u201d condemning teachers, in Chicago and Cleveland and now in Columbus.\u00a0\u00a0Teachers are concerned that the Omicron variant is so pervasive, that full classrooms will simply speed infection.\u00a0\u00a0Most schools are at full capacity.\u00a0\u00a0Mask mandates were dropped, either because of vaccinations, or because of the community threats in the Board meetings.\u00a0\u00a0And, of course, we don’t test either the teachers of the children. So teachers are faced with classrooms literally full of infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chicago\u2019s Mayor Lightfoot, herself sick with Covid, basically called the Chicago teachers cowards for not \u201cdoing their civic duty\u201d and teaching in their classrooms.\u00a0\u00a0I get the costs:\u00a0\u00a0if schools aren\u2019t in session, kids aren\u2019t learning (even online), and more importantly, parents aren\u2019t working.\u00a0\u00a0They are at home with their kids.\u00a0\u00a0No one is pretending that online teaching is a comparable experience to being in the classroom, but the real issue is childcare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But how many teachers are in schools that are decades old, with poor ventilation, in packed classrooms?\u00a0\u00a0In spite of the billions of dollars in Covid aid, a 1960\u2019s building is still a 1960\u2019s building.\u00a0\u00a0Teachers, especially in the big cities, have a legitimate grievance.\u00a0\u00a0And, unlike the universities, no one is being tested at the door to the school house. They are just being dropped into an \u201cOmicron stew\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n You<\/strong> do you, I\u2019ll do me, it doesn\u2019t matter<\/strong>. But one problem:\u00a0\u00a0your choice impacts others.\u00a0\u00a0Our hospitals are filled with Covid patients, the vast majority of them unvaccinated. So filled, that it impacts care of \u201cregular\u201d emergency patients \u2013 heart attacks, strokes, accidents, even those who didn\u2019t wear their seatbelts.\u00a0\u00a0And others who are having \u201celective\u201d surgery, can\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0Those are postponed, waiting for a more \u201cappropriate\u201d time.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s hope your heart pacemaker can wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And there\u2019s one other issue. As Omicron rips through, it thrives and gets the opportunity to mutate. That\u2019s what \u201csuccessful\u201d viruses do. So the more infection there is, the more opportunity for the \u201cnext\u201d variation to appear \u2013 creating a whole new set of problems, just like Omicron did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0Many are ignoring the testing, ignoring the vaccines, ignoring the pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0They live life without their \u201cseatbelt\u201d on, somehow assured that the laws of statistics will never confront them with Covid.\u00a0\u00a0And for many, they\u2019ll \u201cget the \u2018Vid\u2019\u201d and get over it.\u00a0\u00a0Only a few (approaching a million) will go through the windshield and get smeared on the pavement.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s hope they don\u2019t take too many of the rest of us with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n End of rant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deaths<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Not Prepared<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Schools<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll Do Me<\/h3>\n\n\n\n