Pen-demic

On one hand, the number of cases that have been diagnosed is down; the number of people hospitalized is down; the number of people who have died with a diagnosis reflecting a covid 19 cause is down; the President of the US has declared the pandemic is over , BUT   Covid 19 is still raging around the world .  A look at the NY Times Coronavirus Vaccinations Around the World tracker, shows that as of Sept 4, 2022, only 69.7% of the world’s population (more th an 5.35 billion people) has received at least one dose of the original vaccine. It would be easy to say that third world countries aren’t vaccinated while first world countries are, but the numbers sho w a more interesting set of data.   The US has 79% of the population vaccinated with at least one dose, but only 67% of the population have received the necessary second dose of the vaccine and only 33% have received the necessary boosters . Nicaragua on the other had has 97% vaccination rate with an 87% having had ...

  March 2020, was when we knew we were in a pandemic. Now it’s almost July 2022.   The Pandemic still swirls around us, but here in our “safe” suburban world, most people ignore it. The newspapers give it maybe a 2 in by 3 in column here and there. Primarily when the World Health Organization comes out with something new, or a resurgence “somewhere else” brings up talk of masks or quarantines. Right now, the talk is of vaccinations for infants finally being available and do we need to tweak the vaccinations we have to better work against the latest variation of the virus.   And yet the latest variation, Omicron (I think it’s called), is far more transmissible than the earlier variations, though my understanding is that the symptoms aren’t as bad if you get it. I connect with people who tell me that, though vaccinated and boosted and having avoided Covid all this time, have come down with the latest variation. My son and his girlfriend among them. Several days of high...

  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. T...