My COVID 19 sense of things
How do we mesh these two images? We don’t, because they don’t mesh.
I am a 71 year old nurse. I graduated 50 years ago and our nursing school class was set to celebrate this year, but COVID 19 put an indefinite delay on that. Who would have guessed any of us would see anything like this in our life times?
I have socially distanced with my husband and my dog for about 6 weeks now. Early worries were about having enough food and toilet paper, but like most things those things have worked out. My greater worry now is will our society condone that older citizens are disposable. It seems that some sectors do believe exactly that.
While this pandemic continues to ravage some areas of our country and on a smaller scale, my home State of Maine, crazed citizens are loudly and in some cases threateningly demonstrating in our Capitols and on our streets to “open America”. This is a chant that their hero, President Trump, has continually hammered home for weeks now. He hasn’t grieved the over 60,000 dead or offered condolences or contacted any of the surviving families. Instead he repeatedly tells us we must open up, and at the same time he ignores the warnings about the steps to take that will make this opening safer for all of us. He makes false claims that testing is robust, and huge numbers of citizens will be tested before opening. And he has repeatedly given all of us lousy medical advice, ie. injecting disinfectants to cure COVID. More recently, his followers have said that the vulnerable (like me) can continue to “isolate” if they don’t want to get infected and die. Isn’t that special of them? It seems a better approach would be to make it safe for all of us to be back to our normal lives eventually.
“Freedom” lovers want what they want…..crowded bars and sports games, all businesses open and rolling in dough. I want that too. I want everything to go back to normal, but I don’t want MY life, or my husbands or any of my loved ones lives sacrificed for it. I am one of those libs, or cowards or Commies, whatever the gun toting, swastika carrying, ranting and raving lunatics call me…and I want my LIFE. I want to live and I want to do it without the experience of COVID 19 and all of the perils it carries.
So, if we “Open America” without taking the necessary professionally recommended steps, who will die? Well, if I don’t stay in my house all the time…ME. I could die, and my husband could because we are seniors. People who work in meat plants could die, because their bosses won’t be doing the recommended testing and other screening. Some have already become ill, but our President used the Defense production act to make them reopen, regardless of the threat of more illness and death. And of course nurses,doctors and other first responders are dying. They have been forced to work without adequate Personal Protective Equipment, but the president would not invoke the Defense production act to get more PPE manufactured and distributed. Instead he has set up a situation whereby States have been forced to find their own gear, and to compete against each other for needed medical equipment. When governors ordered Chinese masks and they arrived at a port of entry, they were seized by the federal government. Then of course essential retail store workers will die. Those familiar grocery and Walmart clerks will be at increased risk of the infection. Prisoners and homeless people will die too. People in Long Term care and assisted living facilities will also die, but according to some, this is an acceptable loss, because we need our freedoms.
If President Trump and his crazed gun lovin’ n totin’ demonstrators get their way, there will soon be campaign rallies again. After all, it is his favorite thing to do…sucking up as much attention and adoration as he can. Pack em’ in he says, and get them all riled up. I am curious about that first rally. Will there be social distancing? Will they wear masks? Will they screen people who are entering to see if they are sick? Will they get sick after the rally because of exposure to COVID 19? We know that ministers who bucked the advice of doing remote services, and insisted on in person salvation, caused COVID 19 outbreaks. Will President Trumps rallies cause outbreaks and death of his supporters?
This is how I see it. Vulnerable high risk individuals are put between a rock and a hard place. Workers from factories with known COVID 19 outbreaks, illness and death..are being forced back to work. Inevitably some of them will die but Americans can’t do without their meat! Old people like me will have to stay inside indefinitely to avoid infection. Businesses small and large will be opening in the MIDST of this pandemic and the hardest hitting time of it, because being closed infringes on their “freedoms”. A spike in COVID 19 cases is inevitable if we do not “Open America” very carefully. I offer this warning to the demonstrators. I’d bet, with confidence, that victims of this extremely horrifying infection beg for death at the end, and death is the ultimate “freedom”. Is that what you want? If so, they you can be the test cases for all of us. I will stay safe by socially distancing for as long as it takes.
I don’t pretend to know all the answers, but I do know this. We have amazing experts on infectious diseases in this country and the world, who are making solid scientific recommendations to our President and to our country, that are being totally ignored. Ignoring science is stupid. People who don’t care about other people’s lives are ignoring pandemic science. Yes, reopen, and do it soon. But do it gradually and cautiously by following the advice and steps of experts. Don’t listen to the President because he ignores warnings and science, and he makes up his own narrative. Our lives do not mean a damn to him. Money and winning elections do! And please, stop the asinine demonstrations. Who the hell are they demonstrating against…a virus? dying people? caregivers? That is just insanity. You can’t stop a virus by shooting them with an AR 15. Our State leaders, or at least most of them, are working extremely hard against some steep odds and with limited resources, to do the best they can. Their priority is public health and the lives of their residents.
As much as we may hate it, we are all in this together. What we do as individuals can determine whether or not our neighbor lives or dies. What we do as a society can determine whether or not whole sectors of our population live or die. Give that some thought, settle down and do this right.
