The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 and beyond has changed our lives forever. It may take years to fathom the profound transformation the world has undergone.
unimaginable suffering hopeless future grieving families absurd response tragic deaths heartbreaking stories grim statistics cataclysmic disaster dreadful outcomes appalling ignorance
RECOVERY?
fact vs fiction...
data vs speculation...
science vs politics...
knowledge vs ignorance...
In many parts of the world, the Covid experience is without a doubt, vastly different than mine. A few years ago my Yankee self became a Texan so these are observations from my point of view.
I DO NOT BELIEVE IN CONSPIRACY THEORIES
I defer to legitimate experts and their collective findings for accurate medical and scientific information. They have more validity in their little finger then those who "found it on Google" or "did their own research". It's absurd to believe the entire medical or scientific community is involved in a worldwide scheme to deceive us.
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100,000 deaths is sadly, ancient news:
Coronavirus Case Stats:
Covid is not the flu. Not anywhere near.
updated continually
Back in February 2020, there was buzz among experts regarding a potential pandemic. In March 2020 its existence became apparent as the highly contagious virus began spreading throughout the world. The science and medical communities scrambled to learn about this new virus and to find ways to mitigate its threat. Information was and is still, continually evolving.
Many states, including Texas, began closing most public gathering places. It became almost impossible to shop, so curb pickup and online shopping became the norm. Exceptions were grocery stores, pharmacies and big box stores, but they required masks and limited customers in their stores.
Most states implemented mask mandates and stay-at-home orders in early 2020.
Each state and local municipality implemented their response to the crisis to protect citizens within their jurisdiction while the federal Center for Disease Control (CDC) monitored the spread across state and national borders. Rules for masking, quarantining, stay-at-home orders, restaurant capacity, group gatherings, shopping restrictions and inter-state travel was governed by each state.
International travel was a nightmare.
For example, the national ban on travelers from China only prohibited U.S. entry to foreign nationals who had visited China in the last 14 days. Restricting flights from China did nothing to prevent the virus from arriving from other parts of the world (like Europe). Read More
Before we go any further, let's define the new Covid vocabulary
Anti-Masker - belief that wearing a mask infringes on "individual freedoms". Let me veer off for a bit and quote the definition from Urban Dictionary: "Anti-maskers are the new anti-vaxxers. They are a new, more resilient breed of stupid that comes in swarms. Anti-maskers are atypical in that they hold the deluded belief that wearing masks during a global pandemic are somehow an infringement on their "individual freedoms". This is like saying there is a school shooter on the loose, and everybody in the school is forced to remain silent and hidden, but one student does not remain silent for the sole reason that it is infringing on their freedom of speech. It doesn't take a wise guy to see the ridiculousness in this way of thinking.'
Adulting - Doing adult things. Not exactly a Covid word, but became extremely popular in the past year.
Anti Vaxxer - A person who thinks they know more about medicine and public health than the overwhelming majority of doctors, scientists, immunologists and every major health organization across the the entire planet.
I don't need to believe in "evidence based medicine" and fancy "science" made up by sheeple and shills!
Contactless - not having to physically touch or interact with people. “Contactless” delivery or curb pickup has become became a popular option for shoppers.
Contact Tracing - Finding anyone who has been exposed to an infected person so they can be quarantined to prevent spread.
Cornteen - quarantine
Coronacut - bad haircut we give ourselves during lockdown.
Covid 19 - Novel (new) coronavirus disease 2019, the year it was detected.
Covidiot - person who ignores public health or safety warnings
Drive-By - a celebration such as birthday, graduation while driving by.
Essential/Non-Essential - Have to work, or not
Flatten the Curve - lowering new Covid cases
Frontliner - healthcare or other essential worker
Get the Jab - get vaccinated
Herd Immunity - when enough people have been vaccinated results in resistance to infection
Hydro chloroquine - used to treat malaria, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis (risky treatment for Covid).
Ivermectin - livestock anti-parasite medication that some people are ingesting to prevent Covid.
Isolation - 10-14 days, the incubation period that people who may have been exposed to the virus need to stay home and not interact with anyone.
Lockdown - staying home
Long Haulers - Covid survivors with long-term side effects
Pandemic - Global outbreak of a disease.
Pod - A group, usually a family, who lives or works closely together
PPE Personal Protective Equipment - equipment worn by healthcare workers to reduce exposure and contamination
Quaranteem - pod or family unit living together
Quarantine or Self Quarantine - isolating. Stay at home.
Quarantini - quarantine martini
Shelter In Place - stay in a safe indoor space
Social Distancing - 6 ft apart, avoid handshakes, bump elbows
Staycation - Vacationing at home
Super-spreader - gathering of people that may result in the spread of a virus.
Symptomatic/Asymptomatic - Showing symptoms of a disease/not manifesting symptoms of same
Ventilator - a breathing machine
Virtual or ZOOM meeting - appointments, conference calls, staff meetings, TV guest appearances via computer or Smartphone.
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As people began quarantining (staying home), many businesses were especially hard hit. Restaurants and retail establishments struggled to survive by offering no-contact delivery, drive-through or curbside take-out, but many still collapsed.
We live north of San Antonio and saw empty parking lots everywhere: at malls, shopping centers, theaters and businesses. It was as if we were in a Sci-Fi movie as the only survivors, very eerie experience.
Since April 2020, I have rarely entered a store. I order groceries and other necessities online with curb pickup, delivery or mail. A few times I've shopped inside a big box store when I only need a few things, in and out.
Essential businesses stayed open, but required everyone be masked and social distance.
Some stores painted arrows on the floors to direct the flow of customers in the aisles.
We still order our groceries online with curb pickup. We don't interact with the workers and leave our trunks open for them to load our food.
Our bank lobby was open (and still is) by appointment.
There were shortages everywhere, especially cleaning and paper products. Meats and frozen foods were often sold out but fresh fruits and vegetables seemed to survive the scarcity.
This was the paper aisle - paper towels and toilet tissue were always sold out. Anything to clean or sanitize such as bleach, disinfectants, decontaminants or anything "anti-bacterial" was nearly impossible to find. Even the soap aisle was gutted.
As a result, stores began limiting the amount of paper products, cleaning supplies, milk, eggs and other staples we were allowed to buy.
My younger daughter fled NYC, the epicenter of virus cases in early 2020, to a small town on the coast of Maine to quarantine for 2 months. They isolated and found ways to pass the time.
She finally returned to NY and isolated the remainder of the summer, staying in her "pod".
The need for emergency food exploded as people lost their jobs and depleted their savings. More than 1 in 10 Texans turned to food banks or programs to feed their families. In San Antonio, the Food Bank went from feeding 60,000 people a week to 120,000 in a matter of days. This image went viral:
April 9, 2020, San Antonio, Texas, USA: People wait in their cars Thursday, at Traders Village for the San Antonio Food Bank to begin food distribution. 10,000 people seek San Antonio Food Bank help. The need for emergency food aid has exploded in recent weeks due to the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic. The Labor Department said Thursday 6.6 million people applied for first time unemployment benefits. Vehicles start lining up before dawn as locals hit hard by economic effects of coronavirus seek aid from the San Antonio Food Bank. (Credit Image: © William Luther/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire)
THE DAY BEFORE...
As a result, by the end of July 2020, cases skyrocketed and Texas became a national hotspot.
The restaurants that re-opened were limited to 50% capacity (supposedly), required masks upon entering and exiting, and tables were blocked off so customers were separated. Waitstaff all wore masks and we only remove ours to eat.
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The vaccine rollout in early 2021 was chaotic at first.
Healthcare and frontline workers were the first group to be inoculated. Texas struggled to devise a way to vaccinate the next group of people aged 65 or older or anyone with a chronic medical condition.
Initially, the state released a map showing vaccine locations, but left it up to us to find appointments. In my experience, not one location within 100 miles had vaccines or appointments. People were driving hundreds of miles if they were lucky to get an appointment.
TX Interactive Covid map is really uh helpful!
In San Antonio, vaccines were to be administered over 6 days at the Alamodome, and within 5 MINUTES appointments were gone. They only had 9000 doses for a city of 1.5 million people.
My brother who lives in Daytona Beach FL, held a first come first serve for vaccines. Cars lined up days ahead of time and they closed the gates at 7:30 am because they only had 1000 vaccines.
I decided to wait for the frenzy to subside and was fully vaccinated at Walgreens May 1, 2020.
In the summer of 2020, our apartment complex limited the number of people using the pool and gym by requiring us to sign up for time slots. They also set up a table in the office entryway with sanitizer supplies, required masks and the mailroom had more sanitizer on the counter.
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In the fall of 2020, my daughter and her beau visited us in TX. They were extremely careful, wearing facemasks, face shields, social distanced, washed hands and tested often. But it wasn't until she returned home to NY that she contracted Covid, likely walking 1 block from her home to her job and back each day (and no where else).
She lost her sense of smell and taste, and slept most of the time. Thankfully she did not require hospitalization but her doctor checked on her every day via ZOOM (internet). Friends delivered food and she eventually recovered in a few weeks. I was helpless so far away.
My older daughter is fortunate to be able to work remotely from home as a graphic designer since all she needs is her computer. She started working remotely early 2020 and she is still working at home to this day with no immediate plans to resume in-office work.
I might add that so many people have began working remotely and it has proven to work extremely well. Surprisingly, remote working has resulted in increased productivity, employee satisfaction and lower overhead costs for the employer. Read More
One of the arguments against the vaccine is that people can still be infected, which is true, however symptoms are generally milder, and the vaccine does a good job keeping people out of the hospital. Most of those hospitalized are the unvaccinated, so once you've contracted Covid, it's too late.
Masking, which is widely misunderstood, is not intended to prevent us from being infected. It protects those around us in case WE are infected (WE don't always know if we are a carrier).
Sadly, history repeats itself:
CORONAVIRUS IN TEXAS
Verbal and physical attacks on health workers surge as emotions boil during latest COVID-19 wave
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As more people were vaccinated, restrictions were relaxed for awhile. At first those who had been fully vaccinated were not required to wear a mask per the CDC.
However with the Delta variant spreading so rapidly, the CDC is again recommending masks indoors.
Beginning in March 2021, TX Gov. Greg Abbott has initiated many changes in the state's response to the pandemic and laid the burden on the citizens to be "personally responsible".
Businesses reopened 100% in March 2021.
In May, Gov. Abbott issued an executive order prohibiting cities, counties, school districts, public health authorities and other government entities from requiring people to wear face coverings. That order bans school districts from creating mask policies at elementary schools where children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible for the vaccine. Masks, hand washing and social distancing (really?) are their only defense.
Being the compassionate state that it is, Texas has gone ahead and sued over a dozen school districts who ignored the ban even though the majority of parents supeport a mask mandate Parent poll
In July, another executive order: state and local governments can't require masks or vaccines.
Dr Fauci, Director of NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984) recommends that teachers and school personnel who come in contact with children be vaccinated as another layer of protection. Good advice...
One last thing, if you're still here...
Dear unvaccinated: Bye! And don’t let the door hit you in the . . . well, you know
We'll see how this plays out...
To Be Continued...
