We are TIRED. OVERWHELMED.

 Jan 2022, Covid 19 Update by Dale Weir

We are TIRED. OVERWHELMED. We just want it to either end or become the new annual flu with a yearly covid shot when we get our annual flu shot.

The papers and news media no longer focus on COVID as they did at the start, 2 years ago. Now the media focuses on political battles instead:

- A politician trying to get his name and face known, not caring if it’s because he is famous or infamous, costing the taxpayers’ money as he sues China, local governments, and school districts. At times, even putting himself in the position of suing those he was elected to defend and protect.

- State legislators enacting laws that further disenfranchise many members of the communities they represent, but who don’t have the same ethnicity or racial background that they have

- State legislators enacting laws that take away the right of women to control their own bodies.

These and similar stories populate the news media reports, rather than updates on Covid 19.

The news medias ignore the many 3rd World Nations that beg for vaccines for their at-risk populations, populations that nationwide, have yet to receive enough vaccines for even one dose per person, while those among the populations of 1st World countries that want to be vaccinated not only complete their vaccinations but receive booster shots.

But, we acknowledge, that when we do see news reports of Covid 19 and Omicron, rather than reading them in detail as we did 2 years ago, we sometimes don’t even bother to glance through them as we move on to other news reports.

Some municipalities, states and other countries either still have strict masking and social distancing rules or they have reenacted them as Omicron has spread so quickly through the world. Other governments have ignored all the data and left their people to fend for themselves and make decisions for themselves.

In some communities, the population follows the science, even when those they elected to protect them ignore it. In other communities, people blatantly ignore the recommendations and rules put forth to keep them and their neighbors safe, saying things like: “We’re all going to get it eventually.” “Omicron isn’t that bad, it’s just like having a bad cold.” “I’ve had my shots, I won’t get it.”

Few locations have escaped the scourge of covid in the past 2 years, but of those that have, the story turned deadly when island nations like Kiribati, that locked down and kept Covid from their shores for 2 years before finally letting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints send the missionaries they had recalled at the start of Covid 2 years ago, return. Even with multiple testing (3 times) before leaving Fiji, a requirement to be fully vaccinated and quarantines being imposed when the missionaries returned to the island after being refused entry for 2 years, more than half the passengers (36) tested positive for Covid after the quarantine ended and they rejoined the Island’s population. Less than a week later, the Island had 181 cases of covid. Because of the strict isolation policy after covid was discovered and their status as a 3rd world nation, only 33% of their population of 113,000 are fully vaccinated, and only a total of 59% have had at least one shot. In the entire island, there are only a couple intensive care hospital beds, as sick patients are usually sent to Fiji or New Zealand for care.

The Island of Tonga, which like Kiribati had worked at keeping Covid from its shores, is currently recovering from a devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami. Trying to repair the damages and bring stability back to their island, they have required planes and ships bringing recovery supplies to the Island to drop the supplies and leave, without anyone having physical contact with anyone on the island.

The World Health Organization reports 364,191,494 CONFIRMED cases of covid with 5,631,457 deaths attributed to Covid 19, since they started tracking it. And, as of Jan 28th 2022, a total of 9,854,237,363 vaccine doses have been administered world-wide. But even as we read and acknowledge those numbers, we know that the real count is much, much higher. We know that many people died with other cases, besides covid on their death certificates, regardless of whether they had covid at the time they died or not (or if covid was the “final straw” that pushed someone with

underlying conditions to die). We know that many people initially never went to the hospital, thinking they had the flu. Some survived, some did not. We know that many people who have had Covid 19, were asymptomatic and never realized they had it.

Covid deaths in the US, on Jan 21, 2021, reached and EXCEEDED the number of American who died in World War II (405,399). In Aug of 2021, the number of deaths due to Covid 19 in the US (620,00) exceeded the number of people who are estimated to have died due to the Civil War. In Sept 2021, America officially surpassed the estimated US fatalities from the 1981 influenza pandemic (which had held the record as America’s most deadly pandemic up until then) with 700,000 dead from the flu in the US and an estimated 50 million dead worldwide. And yet, those numbers seem so large that we cannot fathom them within our numbed minds.

We are TIRED. People have reached the point where they are reaching out to friends and family. Agreeing that if all are vaccinated and no one has any symptoms, they can “meet up” for dinner or a cup of coffee somewhere. Friends who have started to travel again, report being tested daily by the tour group/ cruise line they are traveling with, wearing masks, showing their vaccine passports (and if they come from an area which doesn’t have vaccine passports, reporting how they have shown proof of vaccinations in order to get one). Families, test before and after getting together. Let, as shown in Kiribati, those measures may not be enough, as highly transmissible as the Omicron variant is.

For 2 years, many of us have worn cloth masks that were sewn by legions of women who pulled old sewing machines out of closets in order to help protect themselves, their loved ones and their neighbors and friends. Now, we are told that those masks and even the paper surgical masks that we are asked to wear when entering local hospitals, aren’t adequate to protect us from Omicron and we need to secure N95 and KN95 masks, which are in short supply. We are told that the specialized treatments that have been working to treat those who came down with the original Covid 19 and the Delta Variant, Bamlavivimab/etesevimab and casirivamab/imdevmab, don’t work against with Omicron. Only Sotrovimab works to treat Omicron, and it, of course, is in short supply. The National Institutes of Health has published risk group prioritizations based on peoples’ age, vaccination status, immune status and clinical risk factors.

Now, we are told that hand washing for 20 seconds or longer, 3 feet of social distancing (rather than the original 6 feet) and adequate room ventilation with a room air turnover of at least 2 times or more per hour are the standards. (Seriously? Who among us know what the room ventilation air turnover rate is of our homes, much less of the grocery store we frequent, or a local café we pick up meals at or our offices?)

We are TIRED. We are OVERWHELMED.

We see reports now that focus not on Covid 19, but on the mental and physical health of the population because of being overwhelmed and tired. Our children are at risk. We are at risk. Our elders are at risk.

Of those who have had Covid 19, we are told of fatigue, cognitive impairment and mood disorders associated with post Covid 19 syndrome. Told that those who have had Covid 19 may show neurological systems, such as loss of smell, delirium and cognitive impairment and that Covid 19 may have a direct relationship to those individuals developing Alzheimer’s and other dementia related diseases. That those who have had covid have elevated levels of neurofilament light in their blood, indicating a neuronal injury.

And yet, those who have Covid, may not even realize it until later. Perhaps they have a dry cough, or a fever or are tired. Or they have shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, muscle aches, chills, a sore throat, runny nose, headache or chest pain. But so many, many other things can cause all or part of those symptoms. Perhaps they have had nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, but maybe they just ate something that didn’t agree with them. Getting confused, or getting “pink eye” or other eye issues can easily be explained away. Only losing one’s sense of taste or smell or developing the “covid rash” were definitive symptoms that couldn’t be ruled out by other causes.

We see reports of Hospital administrative staff and school principals and administrators becoming janitors and cafeteria workers because of the shortage of people willing to work in the service industry. We drive by a local Burger King that closed because it couldn’t hire enough staff to keep it open. We listen as employers talk of higher wages, but we

understand that those in the population who have traditionally worked in the service industry are also tired and overwhelmed. Some have left the service industry because they feel vulnerable, or they need to care for family members who are vulnerable. Some have taken jobs in higher paying industries (such as warehousing and delivery services), where they not only get paid more, but they don’t have to be as vulnerable as they no longer deal face to face with the public. Some were already retired, seeking a bit more money, or sometimes just a change of pace from sitting at home, and now feel full retirement is safer. We applaud the medical staff who care for us, the grocery workers who keep our stores open, the delivery people who bring food, medicine and necessary supplies to our doors. All the time, saying to ourselves, that we are so glad it is not us out there taking care of others while making ourselves more vulnerable.

We are TIRED. We are OVERWHELMED.

The scientists are saying that perhaps the Omicron Covid 19 wave has or is about to crest, and things will ease up, BUT we doubt it. For we have been told that before, with other variants only to have the next variant show up and the numbers to rise even higher.

We are TIRED. We are OVERWHELMED. We are EXHAUSTED.

We just want it to either end or become the new annual flu with a yearly covid shot when we get out annual flu shot.

We want our old lives back, even while we know that will never happen. Even while we know that a “New Normal” will have to be forged from what we can salvage of our old lives and what we have learned to cope with over the past 2 years.