Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Dystopia 2023

 


Today there are warning signs that literally no one in a position of authority is paying any attention to. Let's review today's news.

-The U.S. administration is prepared to require all federal workers to either be vaccinated or be subject to testing.

-The U.S. CDC has reversed policy on masking indoors and in schools.

-The U.S. vaccination rate has hit a wall of vaccine resistant ideology. 

-The Delta variant is now transmitting at levels not seen since the beginning of the pandemic.

                                                        ~

First, those 'facts' relate only to the richest country on the planet, a country with roughly a 50% vaccination coverage and an oversupply of available vaccine. But Covid is not a country by country disease. Medically, we are one planet.

Second, absolutely nothing that is being done today or has been done in the past is enough to prevent a worldwide disaster. The incremental policy reactions of individual national governments is an attempt to put out a raging fire with a dixie cup and a dripping faucet.

Here are my 'facts' and my predictions of what will transpire over the next two years.

First and foremost, Covid variants will accelerate because less than half of the world's population has received at least one dose of a vaccine. Each and every person who contracts Covid can be the host for a new variant. To this point the available vaccines have been mostly effective against variants. There is no reason to believe this will continue to be the case.

If we look continent by continent: Europe has administered 84 doses per 100 adults. Since many vaccines require two doses, this translates to less than 50% fully protected. North America is only slightly behind at 82 shots per 100 eligible adults. Africa, on the other hand, has a current vacc-rate of 4.6 per 100.

A mass Covid outbreak anywhere on the planet creates a human petri dish for new, more virulent variants. Variants get on planes and spread throughout the world. Plus variants spawn other variants, which will eventually outstrip the protection of the vaccines.

Governments are not doing enough. They can't. There is simply too much resistance both culturally and politically Just this morning, Speaker Nancy Pelosi reinstated the mask requirement for the floor of the U.S. Congress. Her republican counter part Kevin McCarthy claimed this has an attempt by "liberal officials who want us to live in a perpetual pandemic state." The Speaker then call McCarthy a moron. These are the people we expect to act sensibly regarding a deadly worldwide pandemic?

Okay, let's skip forward 24 months.

July 28, 2023

The U.S. Government today announced the completion of phase three of Operation Protect America. All U.S. military personnel have been successfully recalled from foreign bases. Those military members still in 60 day quarantine will be eligible for limited zone travel after their release. As of today, no travel will be allowed in or out of United States airports or ports. All international borders remain closed as well as the exclusion zones in the Southern continental U.S. 

Military aid to the conflicts in South America and Africa will remain suspended. Humanitarian aid by airdrop will continue from U.S. Naval ships stationed off the continental coast of those countries. Any U.S. citizens still in foreign countries will not be allowed to reenter the country after midnight tonight. All U.S. passports are suspended.

All medical facilities remain under federal authority per the December 2022 Federal Pandemic Act. Vaccinations for the Signa and Nova variants remain available to essential workers and those in classes A1 through A9. Boosters for all other vaccination groups are recommended and available to all citizens with vaccination security cards.

Marshall Law and curfews remain in effect on a county by county basis as mandated in the Travel and Movement Acts of April 2022.


Friday, July 16, 2021

Rest In Peace Gator


REPOST: This is a repost from June 2011.

July 16, 2021: A friend is attending a funeral today for her friend who "got a gun and took his life." I learned of this news while listening to an NPR interview from 2016 with Anthony Bourdain. Seems like a good time to repost this piece about our dear friend Randy.

                                                                   ~

2011: A good friend died this week. He took his own life. We are all shocked and saddened by his passing and we are all asking ourselves - why? Which is to say, we are having the normal human reaction to such an unnecessary loss.

I am not going to praise him here, most of you did not know him. For those who did, we will find the time and place to share our memories. Today I am going to do something in his honor.

This is for our lost friend.

If you read this blog and you have my phone number then I ask should you ever feel so lost, so alone that you consider leaving us, I beg you to use that number and call me. If you read this blog and you don't have my phone number then I ask that you call that person today, the one who you talk to when times are darkest. Call them today and agree that should you ever walk too close to the edge, you will reach out to them. You make that promise in the light of day; promise you will cry out past the darkness. Make the promise, make it today.

My friend called me at times when he brushed against his demons and we would look at the world in ways only two friends in conversation could, I believe it helped. This time he didn't call and all of us are left to ask - why.

Rest in Peace Randy, we will miss you for a long, long time.

Monday, July 05, 2021

Rhabdomyolysis

 

                                

Warning: It may not be safe to go back into the gym.

Post Covid-19* some of us want or need to get back to an exercise regimen to regain our pre-pandemic svelte figures. This seems to be leading to an increase in what was a fairly rare syndrome - Rhabdo.

Rhabdomyolysis - a condition in which skeletal muscle tissue dies, releasing substances into the blood that cause kidney failure. Rhabdomyolysis is usually caused by a specific event. This is most commonly injury, overexertion, infection, drug use, or certain medications. 


Current cause of new Rhabdo cases - people rushing back to an exercise program after a year+ of pandemic lockdown. Slowly easing back into exercise is a much safer option.

                             


Here's a link to a Washington Post article on Rhabdomyolysis and post-Covid* exercise.

Bottom line, we all have a medically viable excuse to slowly merge back into our slothful lifestyles. A little exercise is good, a lot can kill you. However, I have been told that almond croissants for breakfast can cause other syndromes, so as with all things - moderation is the key.



                            

*and it needs to be said - we are not yet POST-Covid. Stay safe out there.