Hello, my friends. It's been awhile. This piece was a long time coming. I just wasn't sure how to begin and end it. I'm hoping this will be the last I speak of this year-and-a-half-long event. To recap, COVID-19 is caused by a coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. It's a virus that is from nature but could be manufactured. This particular strain we don't know for sure.
Where we left off, POTUS 45 was being as useful and productive toward the fight against this malady as he had always been. He did nothing. He withheld information. He told lies. And he had no plan.
It was believed that we wouldn't have a vaccine until Summer 2021. Gratefully, this was a very conservative estimate. We had the vaccine shortly after the November 2020 election where Americans came out in record numbers to vote for their president. People will say that the sitting President was cheated out of reelection. By 8 million votes?? I don't see that as even remotely plausible. He lost. He lost. He lost. Let's get that straight. This man will go down in American history as the worst U.S. President.
I believe POTUS 45 could have been re-elected if he didn't have a laissez faire attitude toward the virus. Had he taken a more serious course; had he heeded the warnings and advise from the medical community and the CDC, maybe, the half-million plus Americans who passed away from the virus and who probably were his supporters, he might have been re-elected.
However, he spent much of his time from March through November planting the seed that the election was rigged and if he lost it was because it was fraudulent. Those seeds sprouted on January 6th, 2021. He should have been and still should be held accountable as well as every individual who stormed the Capitol in search of representatives with one focus -- mayhem and murder.
People need to be held accountable including the representatives who repeated and supported the former President's myths and lies. What does this have to do with the virus? Nothing. That's the point I'm making. These people of power were more concerned about their political careers and not the American people's well-being. They didn't have their head in the game that was being played.
People were getting sick exponentially. Nothing was being done by the government. If POTUS 45 had taken the course of #FollowTheFauci and not his own insane, impractical non-plan in handling the pandemic, he might have been re-elected. AND maybe as many as half the Coronavirus deaths in 2020 could have been averted. In spite of all his bull-spit, if he had shown some real executive proclivity, I might have voted for him. But, as he showed no intelligence or aptitude as Executive Chief of the Perceived Most Powerful country in the world, I voter for Papa Joe. Or as I tell everyone, I really voted against Dumpty Trumpty. Dump Trump seems like a very apro pos slogan. Yet, no campaign used it.
To date, worldwide it is estimated that in the last 18 months over four million people died from COVID. 600 thousand plus Americans nearly 15 percent of the deaths worldwide passed away. (I knew one. A cousin.) The U.S. has 4.25% of the world's population. We should not have had more than three times the deaths of our percentage of the world's population. Why? Where was the failure? Leadership. Both federal and state. Everyone was so concerned about the almighty dollar that they forgot that dead people can't work and earn a living.
To date, worldwide over 187 MILLION people have or had Covid. Over 171 million have thankfully recovered. This roughly leaves about 12 million still fighting for their lives. That's a lot of fucking people. That's more than the population of Los Angeles and New York City combined. Imagine that. Two of the largest, most populated cities in the United States would be the largest ghost towns in the world. Imagine that.
If we had lost the amount of our percentage of the world population, we would not have had 600 thousand plus but less than 200 thousand dead. It's still too many but we have the Chinese government to blame for not being forthcoming with the virus's spread capabilities. Communications might have helped to stave off a lot of the spread. If we also closed our borders to EVERYBODY, less sick people would have gotten in. That means American citizens who were traveling abroad. For the sake of the rest of the country, they should have been kept out. A small sacrifice for the greater good.
To date, we are still the number one country with cases and deaths followed closely by India. BUT India has 4 times the population we do. Also, India's recovery rate is close to 97%. Our rate is 84%. We have to do better. We need to get vaccinated. We need to stop being stupid entitled people who think diseases have no rights to infect us. Viruses don't care where you are from or what is the color of your skin or what social status you have. It only cares about a host. YOU!
There could have been less infected or dying Americans from the start if we took this serious enough to quarantine sooner. If we tested sooner and more often. If the Republicans were more concerned about their constituents and not federal debt, people would have stayed home and maybe cut down much of the spread.
People, now deceased, would still be alive. People could have stayed home and been paid through the government's COVID-19 Economic Impact Payment (EIP) program (Stimulus package). Alive Americans can still earn a living later when the pandemic is over. (It always ends. Look at the history of pandemics.) The government could recoup the payouts through additional taxation. Taxes suck but without taxes you have no services or in this case, a pandemic safety net.
Essential businesses could have remained opened. Restaurants and other large capacities might not have been shutdown as long as they were. Lots of things would have reopened sooner. We'll never know because our government was not proactive. They weren't even reactive. They did nothing.
It may seem that I am Monday Morning Quarterbacking but I think I stated many of these opinions in one or more of the other 19 posts I wrote about the pandemic during the pandemic where actions could have been taken and still saved some lives. Just saying. I may not have all the answers but I sure as hell would not have sat on my fat ass like some pumpkin-head did.
On a personal note, by the grace of someone, I received both my shots in April 2021. In mid-May I was able to travel by plane to Colorado for a wedding. It was a lovely event. The food was fantastic. The venue was set in a beautiful, mountainous, bucolic park known as Planet Bluegrass in Lyons, Colorado. The wedding was held outside in the open air. The reception was a few feet away in the enclosed Wildflower Pavilion. There was live music. The band played mostly MY music. That is, music from the 1960s and 1970s. If I was the marrying type, that would be the place to have a wedding and reception. Thank you modern medicine (Pfizer) for my vac. Without my shots, who knows whether I would have gone or would not have gotten sick. As it is, I haven't had any symptoms or any illness since December 2019, which I swear, I either had the worse head and chest cold I ever had in my life OR I had COVID, but survived it.
I may have or may not have mentioned that in a former posting. I had most of the symptoms and effects from Covid without the need of a respirator. Luckily, I stayed home from just before Christmas to a few days into the New Year. Awful time. I survived is the silver lining here.
However, I still wear a mask . . . mostly. Outside, I may not unless I'm really surrounded by a swarm of people. Indoors, at the supermarket, if it's really crowded, yes, I wear it. In a mostly empty store and where I can avoid the proximity of people, I might chance it and go mask-less, but I still feel naked. Even though I'm vaccinated and can be considered protected, I can still catch one or the other of the new strains. I may not need hospitalization. I may only suffer some mild effects, but I could still feel like shit. As I had previously noted above, I haven't been sick in over a year and a half and have no intention in breaking that chain. Everyone should still mask up indoors in a public venue. It makes sense. I don't fear Covid as much as the common cold these days. It's making a resurgence too.
Yes. I heard the question in your mind. Will I stay home and work from home forever? Yes. Yes. Yes. And they can't make me go back. I have already proven my worthiness without having to be in an enclosed building with lots of potentially dangerous (health-wise) people surrounding me. I have that option because I work with Data, not customers. And the customers I do work with are through Zoom meetings or email. Life is great when you are in IT.
I'm sure there's always more to say, but right now, I need to get outside and get some much needed Vitamin D and fresh air. Stay safe. Stay cool. (Heatwave going on now.) And until next time, TTFN.
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