I hate to say that I hate it when I'm right (correct) but that would be a fib. I love being right. And I knew I would be right in regards to the too soon reopening of the country. Why do I think it was too soon? Simple answer: Americans are too fahken stupid to follow the suggested medical advice.
- Wear masks
- Social distance six feet
- Don't congregate in large groups
For the last several months, all of the above have been ignored, mostly by the younger, entitled millennial ignoramus. And from people who think Trump walks on water. I know some people who are soooo ultra conservative that they won't wear masks or social distance and who are in their seventies. [Karens] Yikes! Talk about rolling the dice and hoping it doesn't come up snake eyes. As the map below tells a lot of the story. This is from the New York Times today.
There has been a rise in Corona case in more than half the states. 17 states have seen a rise surpassing their previous 7-day rolling highs at the height of the initial wave. 15 states have paused or reversed reopening. Some of those states are still marked above as Reopening or Reopened.
This isn't a seasonal illness like the common cold or one of the influenza strains. This could last for years. A life in quarantine or wearing protective PPE may be the required life style changes that is being coined the "New Normal." Some companies have embraced this to the point to be producing facial wear that are decorative and trendy. For the most part, they're very affordable. So splurge. Treat yourself. Buy one or two. I own five different styles of masks.
A line that keeps popping in my head is from The Terminator when Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "Come with me if you want to live" except these days it is "Wear a mask if you want to live." All joking aside, masks are uncomfortable. You smell your breath...ALL DAY! (Gargle with mouthwash before donning a mask.) But as far as protection goes, it's better than nothing. Any barrier between you and another individual is a good barrier. There are people who don't know they're infected because they're still not showing any symptoms.
TREAT EVERY PERSON AS IS IF THEY ARE COVID POSITIVE!
The media have been posting and broadcasting pictures of groups of unmasked people gathering and frolicking on beaches, in parks, in the streets and everywhere else. People are thinking that they are invincible. You are not. None of us are. We all are going to die. Someday. But for those of you flaunting your obscenely bare face, your time may be sooner than later.
We don't know when or if this virus is going to die out. The medical community doesn't know. And certainly not the idiot in the White House. (I'm not sure this guy ever actually graduated college with a real degree. It certainly isn't in medicine.) As far as a miracle vaccine goes, there's no guarantee that a vaccine is going to cure anything. The vaccine might help your body to build up a resistance to the virus. But nothing is guaranteed. Anybody who thinks it will is delusional. If my doctors say, get the vaccine, I will listen to them. I'm putting my faith in science and in the hopes that my doctors have done their due diligence. And to the Anti-vaxxers, fahk you. You people are the ones most likely to bring the plague to your neighborhoods and I may be someone who lives in that neighborhood. And no one fahks with my health. So beware, muthafahkas.
An effective vaccine may not be available until 2021. That's still six months away. Minimal. All the vaccine manufacturers are rushing to produce one, but you can't rush this to market. It could be a disaster. To bring everything into proportion, let's look at the Polio timeline.
The first U. S. polio epidemic was in 1894. The first vaccine trials weren't until 1935, over 40 years later. It wasn't for another 20 years before a vaccine was found to work. But that wasn't without a hitch. A Vaccine produced by Cutter Laboratories was found to give paralysis in some children. This was a major hiccup that caused some reworking. Success was finally found later in the 1950s. One hundred years since the first epidemic, Polio is 99% eradicated throughout the world. It took time. Nothing happens overnight, except in Hollywood Blockbusters.
Another example is HIV/AIDS. From the first known U. S. case it took six years before AZT was produced that gave many AIDS patients a reprieve and extending their life. To this date over 32 million people have died from AIDS. People are still being infected today. In 2018, 770,000 died from this disease. There are millions on antiretroviral therapy medication. There is a lot of medication combating this disease. It's been over 40 years since HIV/AIDS appeared. It's not over yet.
There were many people who did not survive to reap the benefits from these vaccines or drugs. This may be the same thing for COVID-19. If anyone believes that things are going to be different for this virus is living in a dreamworld. It's not going to be that easy or that fast. The drug Remdesivir has shown promise but is still not a definitive solution. I'm not being pessimistic. I'm being real. Expect to be in this for the long haul, if you want to live.
People who don't want to follow the government's and medical community's orders, for a lack of a better word, are dooming not only themselves and their loved ones but the rest of us. Being an American does not mean you can do whatever you want because the Constitution has given you a sense that anything goes because you're an American. That's not how it works and that's not what the Constitution guarantees. The Constitution was meant to be a guide for the country, as a whole. Individual rights will always be secondary to the greater welfare of the nation.
That's right. Your individual rights do not count when it comes to the overall security of the nation. The idiot President should know this, but he doesn't. Wearing a mask is an American responsibility as well as upholding the Constitution. Social distancing is the equivalent to standing for the National Anthem. Not gathering in crowds is the equivalent of, well, the right to peaceable assembly. Yes, sometimes opposites are the same. As the second wave has begun in many states, yours may be next.
Stay safe. Tweet the President to stop tweeting bullshit and stop worrying about dead confederate generals' monuments and urge people to wear masks. Follow the rules set down by your state's government and medical community. Until next time, TTFN.
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