The Observation Deck

I used to post the daily numbers, and things to do during the epidemic and lockdown. I am sure many have noticed I have been absent in posting the count. One of the reasons is that the sheer stupidity of Americans has really taken me back. Turning a war on a virus into a political debate, a fight for freedom, a statement of strength and individuality. A stupid contest.

Even when reports from the 1918 Flu Epidemic were brought out, and shown Americans repeated the same mistakes that led to the massive death rate during that. Of course the non-thinking "individualist" stated, "This is weaker than the FLU," "Flu kills people every year," and my least favorite, "We will develop herd immunity." All of which had the smallest of slivers of possibilities to stand on. But the selfish and the ignorant refused to believe the simplest truth of them all: to stop the spread, you have to take away the hosts. OR in other words, safe distancing, wear masks, wash hands, do not touch face. This has worked in every pandemic from the Plague to SARS. It is why so many people wear masks all the time in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand etc. They deal with these viruses far more often and far better than we do. Actually most times the efforts of the people of Asia are enough to keep this stuff over there. But Americans, we are special. The "You can do anything you want, but do not stop me from doing anything I want, when I want it" mentality of Americans now delivers us to death's door.

Two amazing and frightening articles rolled out in front of me yesterday. The one from the Atlantic points out that the virus is actually mutating at such a rate that if we cannot increase vaccinations to millions a day, the virus will win, and mutate around the vaccines, and other things. Example is that the most aggressive infection rate is a byproduct of the virus working around the barriers in place. Now if the virus is 70% stronger that doesn't mean it's twice as strong, but it does mean that surface transmissions occur more easily. Something that was lacking in CVOID-19 Version 1. It would also indicate that you need less of it in your body to get sick and/or real sick.

The second article is about how COVID-19 is affecting young healthy hearts, even when the person is asymptomatic. Which means a couple things, one, if the insurance problems does not get fixed, most of America will have some form of pre-existing condition allowing Insurance companies to raise rates or refuse to insure you. Second, which leads to an emerging thought process that is even more troubling, This Is The Big One.

Let me repeat that: This is mutating and working on such a level, America cannot keep up with it, and it appears to have a cumulative effect over months and maybe even years. As many leaders believe, this will be one of those pesky viruses that come along every couple years or seasons.

No-- your friends on Facebook and at the bar assured you that this was not a big deal.

I now ask, what if they were wrong?

Two nights ago on the nightly news they were interviewing some human, no idea who or what she was, it doesn't matter. In the interview she referred to 2020 looking back as, "The year the massive quarantines started." I looked up and it took my breath away. It's like living in a Sci-Fi movie.

Here are the articles....

The Mutated Virus Is a Ticking Time Bomb
There is much we don’t know about the new COVID-19 variant—but everything we know so far suggests a huge danger.
Read it here
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arc ... he/617531/

and...

Ohio State study: 30% of student athletes have heart damage linked to COVID-19
"In a study published in September, researchers from Ohio State University found that out of more than two dozen athletes from the university who tested positive for COVID-19, 30% had cellular heart damage and 15% showed signs of heart inflammation caused by a condition known as myocarditis."

Read it here
https://www.foxla.com/news/ohio-state-s ... 9vojC-ZOE0

They’ve screwed up the delivery and administration of the vaccine big time. In many cases, it’s sitting in a freezer. It need to be in arms!

As a result of that screw up,they are now considering giving everyone one dose of the vaccine to “make it go further,” hoping some immunity is better than none.

But that’s not how the clinical trials were conducted. It was a two dose regimen. The one dose was never tested. This means we are the big experiment - will it work?

Virologists are alarmed because with only partial immunity the virus has a reservoir of people to infect, but maybe not kill. In these hosts it can mutate in ways that allow it to evade the virus. This is the main concern - that the one dose idea may lead to an even worse outcome. How about the vaccine no longer works? We are back to square one!

I never thought it could get this bad, but it’s actually worse than anyone could ever imagine.

Addressing this remark to local Lakewood elected officials, please note that no national newspaper is calling for a reduction in spending on public health needs. Quite the opposite.

This week the January 4th edition of The New Yorker devotes its entire issue to Covid-19.

The magazine only rarely devotes a single issue to a single topic.

Ten years ago an Economist columnist wrote, of America's already evident dysfunction, that "We have a system-wide problem with system-wide problems."

I have thought about this a lot, since then, and just about daily for the past four years. I don't think there's any bigger problem than the combination of a major political party which has become a permanent sabotage campaign, and a culture so set in its ways that people and institutions carry on as though nothing had changed. But there are countless serious problems which mutually reinforce.

Now COVID-19 is like snow piling up on a rickety shed. The rot had just about been balanced, until now, in a way that the overall structure seemed stable-ish. But it can't support increasing, additional pressure on the roof. At minimum part of the roof's gonna give way.

I found this an interesting suggestion about why so much hostility has met calls for even modest, temporary lifestyle changes. In part because it points to a broader problem of systems which aren't working, and growing awareness of this which actually reinforces the problem. ("If the system doesn't work, why should I follow the rules," e.g.)

What we're experiencing now is at least a generation or two in the making.

mjkuhns wrote:
What we're experiencing now is at least a generation or two in the making.

Matt

I would put this squarely on the shoulders of the Baby Boomers, my people.

As I just told someone, we used to drive used VW Beetles, with ecology stickers on them, proudly owning the "Zen Guide To Beetle Maintenance."

Now we drive 30 miles to Trader Joe's in a BMW SUV by ourselves to get dolphin safe tuna for the little one. Oh and cheap wine!

When Reagan came in the Boomers went from Green to Greed. And everything bad flowed out of that.

I could write a book, but no one reads them anymore.

,

Jim O'Bryan wrote:I would put this squarely on the shoulders of the Baby Boomers, my people.

I am not a friend of either irony or satire. I'm an old stick-in-the-mud.

If you are over the age of 60, you know the names of actual friends, parents or relatives that recently died from Covid-19 and you also have the not unreasonable fear that you might suffer a similar fate.

I've made my case over the past few months on the Deck. I know a lot of people that have died recently. So do you.

Be Well. Stay Safe.

My comment from the other thread,:

Is this really a good time to be sending the kids back to school?

Dan Alaimo wrote:My comment from the other thread,:

Is this really a good time to be sending the kids back to school?

Well another person with the UK Strain has been identified in Ohio.

Also tracking down a story about over the last 6 months cases for kids under 21 have gone up "8-fold." I put that in quotes, as it was the term they used. I am not sure if that is 800% or just a mistake.

.

Today's ODH State Incidence Map