Tip of the hat to http://all-hat-no-cattle.blogspot.com

Wednesday and Thursday saw some incredible numbers being posted on the website world-o-meters.  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/  Over a million Americans officially tested positive for Covid 19. 

You must understand that this number represents people who were tested by some organization that would report the cases. This would not include people who were covid positive but decided not to get tested for some reason. Nor did it include people who took a home test and did not report it or follow up on a positive test.

Yep, the omicron variant is tearing through the US and the  delta variant is still around. We do not know what percentage of cases each variant accounts for in that incredible number. Nor do we know if there may be yet other variants mixed in. Given that a large portion of the American public simply refuses to take any precautions opens them up to be Petri dishes for the virus to mutate and continue to adapt to keep itself going. That is consistent with the theory of Evolution.

Will having survived a bout of Covid bring with it some kind of immunity? So far the answer is mixed. Therefore exposing one’s self to Covid and hoping you survive is a really bad strategy to conquer Covid. 

So while you talk with friends and family about what goals you should set for the coming year, the very top goal should be to get real about Covid. Enough of the mickey-mousing around with prayers and supposed cures and preventatives like hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin. Vaccinations have been the only real way to prevent or lessen the effects of the virus.

While vaccination should the main weapon for every person’s strategy in combatting Covid, don’t forget the other strategies that we have heard countless times over the past 2 years:

• Wear a mask! That should be a more substantial mask than the little paper ones. N95 masks are recommended.
• Maintain “social distance.” That is still the 6 feet that we have heard over and over.
• Finally, wash your hands!

There is a reason for pointing out the HUGE rise in cases and reiterating the Covid protocols. The reason is simply this. Our hospital and health systems are stressed to the point they have never been stressed before. There appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel. Systems are stressed, some supplies are getting short and employees – especially doctors and nurses – re under stresses no one ever imagined they would encounter in their worst nightmares.

One of the great myths of America as a country is that in times of national emergency we come together to conquer the foe. Covid has proven to be an awesome foe. Yet there are plenty of forces within this country that have sided with the virus and refused to vaccinate or follow protocols.

This is the time of year many of us like to create a vision of where we see ourselves in a year’s time. With the way the virus is ripping through the country, next year we may be looking at hospitals that are way understaffed with people laying in the hallways. We may see hospitals refusing ambulances, folks dying in the streets because they could not get care.

Is our health system at a breaking point? Screw around and we may all find out. 

The solution is simple. I will say it. I am in favor of vaccine mandates for all but those of whom it can be proven that a vaccine would hurt of kill them. That would be very few and they would be protected by others being vaccinated. Absolutely everyone in any phase of health care from the janitors to the Chief Medical Officer should be vaccinated and be able to prove it.

We are way past time to confront the virus head on. Every American must do their part. 

Happy New Year. 

Get fully vaxxed and get the documents to prove it. Stand up like a true patriot when your country needs you.