Stop the victory dance. Please.
"We are in a complicated stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Americans are being vaccinated every day at an accelerated pace. And yet COVID19 cases and hospitalizations are increasing in some areas of the country. The reasons for these increases are complicated but potentially related to emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants that are becoming predominant in some communities."
I was celebrating victory over COVID. I am double-vaccinated. People in my age group and general social circle are completing the process of vaccination. COVID cases are way down from last November. And I got to take off the damn mask to talk with friends. Whew.
What's the problem?
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| Look closely. Cases are going up. |
Eliot Nierman is a physician teaching clinical medicine at a University of Pennsylvania teaching hospital. He is a college classmate. He said we have not won the battle with COVID. Nearly everyone who isn't vaccinated should get vaccinated. And people like me, who are vaccinated, need to get our head's straight. We need to keep applying COVID protocol because it's the right thing to do..
He makes a plea: Don't be careless or selfish. Be a good person. Care for your neighbor.
A Guest Post rant by Eliot Nierman, M.D.
Peter, unfortunately you seem to have fallen into the same trap many have--the success of Trump and his minions reframing the issue so that not wearing masks is a choice between freedom and oppression. On the contrary, open businesses, open schools, open theaters, open sports are the goal. That is freedom. Wearing masks is inconvenient but not imprisonment. Wearing a mask and getting vaccinated leads to beating COVID and true freedom where it counts. Masks and immunization should not be manipulated to appear to be a political statement. They are scientifically proven ways to win the war against COVID at minimal cost and inconvenience.
Nierman Another way to think of immunization is that, like masks, it is a public service. It is not just a matter of protecting ourselves but of protecting others through herd immunity, especially those who, as I mentioned above, cannot respond to vaccination. Vaccination leads to true freedom!. Not getting vaccinated keeps us enslaved, and so it is ironic that many of those who most claim to want freedom as an excuse not to wear masks and not to get vaccinated are those making it more difficult to achieve that herd immunity. Not getting vaccinated allows the vulnerable to get sick and allow viral mutations to grow to where vaccines don’t work.
We all make sacrifices for the common good even if we don’t care about the risk to ourselves. Why stop at red lights if you feel the time savings is worth the personal risk? Why not shoot off firecrackers in an oil refinery? There is a lot of open space and if the firecracker lands wrong we will really get a big bang! Why have any public health? Why bother to identify those with tuberculosis, HIV, sexually transmitted disease, some infectious diarrheas (all required by law to be sent by labs and/or docs to local public health for disease tracking)? Why check our food, our water for infections, contaminants when we can get it cheaper by not doing this? Why fight for our country in a war? As Trump said people who die for their country are stupid! Why do anything for the common good, why make any sacrifices if it costs us as individuals?
The last irony of course is that some of our most “religious" groups, some Orthodox Jews, Evangelicals have fought hardest against masks and immunizations and restrictions on gathering. Do unto others as you would want others to do to you has become do unto others whatever benefits you.
6 comments:
Thought provoking rant, much appreciated. I, for one am figuring on a Nooster before year end, as the Variants seemingly continue to pop up, and numbers of sick people are growing in multiple places around the Globe, not just in the US.
Thank you, Eliot Norman.
Exactly, there is a mistake in thinking the common good is in opposition to personal freedom.
Our freedom is the result of collective self interest. Those who think they are "outlaws" are the least free among us.
I've never understood the appeal of the anti-social "outsider" that's celebrated in pop culture, and this includes artists in some genres. They seemed constrained by their own cynical worldview and fashion decisions. And of course there's the irony that such behavior can be lucrative, despite the hypocrisy.
So by attempting to delegitimize science and prudent public health policy Republicans appeal to these "patriots" who are happy to fork over first their money, but as we've seen after Jan. 6th, their freedom as well. Another irony.
Go figure...
I got this meme and posted it on my facebook page:
"Being vaccinated does not mean you can gyre and gimble in the wabe.
Remember that the borogroves are still all mismsy, and the mome raths outgrabe."
It's true the masks are just an inconvenience and we should continue following the protocols for preventing the spread of infection until given the all clear. On the other hand, my understanding from the CDC is that it's OK for those who are fully vaccinated to mix and mingle as before.
Has anyone pointed out the 8-11 day lag time for an expected C-19 mini surge to the downtown PEAR BLOSSOM spreader event
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