The news this morning is not what our nation should be experiencing.
With everything we faced in 2020, from tragic numbers of COVID-19 deaths, health care workers left frazzled from the workload, economic pain felt from business owners and workers alike should have strongly imprinted upon all that every effort would be required to stem the virus.
One would logically think that. Right? We have vaccines, after all, that proved to be most effective at containing the spread of the virus. So the events making headlines today are not only very sad, but also confirm as to why many Americans are simply pissed off about the selfish ones who will not take a vaccine. Or to refuse to wear a mask!
The news today alerts us that Oregon has set a new daily case count and hospitalization record. Montana ICU admissions are at their highest rate since December. Idaho hospitals are two weeks away from having to implement crisis care standards. New Mexico Governor Michelle Grisham has re-imposed a mask mandate. So has Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Ditto for Dane County. Meanwhile, Kentucky’s positivity rate is at an all-time high.
I read a meme today that the United States should never have thought it could save Afghanistan—Good Lord!–we can not even govern our own nation so not to spread a pandemic!
But there is no humor in the social media posting. Instead, it just further underscores why more and more Americans are angry with those who continue to endanger our public health. As a history buff, it needs noting here that the American death toll from COVID exceeds the Civil War’s horrific bloodletting. Simply staggering.
I suspect many across the nation were aghast over the past weeks to learn that it was required by medical administrations to insist that all staffs of hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities get the vaccine. To know that those who work with the most vulnerable would need to be told what common-sense screams out is infuriating. “First, do no harm.” should not be a relic, or thought of as a mere suggestion.
I talk with many people who walk or bike past our home. Puttering in the flowers beds is a great way to meet others in an urban environment. Over the past weeks as the latest wave has mushroomed out of control I hear real anger about those who are too damned selfish to get vaccinated. I hear the true concern such carelessness causes, as it puts many vulnerable folks at risk.
The reason more and more people are ripped about this fourth wave is that it was PREVENTABLE! Entirely preventable. The data from the researchers, medical professionals, and even the fourth-grader who just follows the snippets of news he hears while running about the house all knew how to prevent the virus from spreading. The means to stop it were in our hands.
But too many of the most callous among us cared not at all and instead chose to let this virus continue, mutate, and further harm us all.
Too many Republican politicians, and the utterly despicable rabble on Fox News breathe lies about the virus, the vaccines, and in so doing add weight for the undereducated in the nation who think their freedom allows them the right to infect others in the community. These idiots prattle on about the Constitution, but we know they have no knowledge of it, or eagerness to learn of it. Whatever tool they can use to play to the partisan base, or rejoice in their stupidity is used and repeated.
Meanwhile, hospitalizations, deaths, and economic pains continue to mount up concerning a pandemic that now rests entirely on the shoulders of that most disreputable group. The unvaccinated who are speeding the virus’s travels.
And so it goes.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 