The Virus

 

In March of 2020 I started writing this blog, we were just going into lockdown.  I was living and working in Baltimore at the time and thought being locked in alone would be the perfect time to pick my writing back up.  But even in the middle of a pandemic while being locked down life or sometimes the lack there of can get in the way.   This is what I started with....
The world is experiencing a pandemic.  It is a coronavirus.  It is a "novel" virus meaning it has not been seen before.  It has been tagged Covid-19. The first inklings of a new virus was sometitme in the December/January timeframe.  It is spread from person-to-person.

• Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).
• Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes
• These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.

And, that is where i stopped. 

Fast Forward to January 2021.  We are now nearly a year into this pandemic. As of this writing 86M folks world wide have been infected 21M of those infected are in the United States and, of that 21M nearly 400K have died. The US accounts for nearly 25% of the cases worldwide. The virus has affected the black and brown community more severely than the white community. The current administration is directly responsible for the rampant spread and related deaths.  The president, it pains me to even write his name, first ignored the information provided, then downplayed it, then hog tied our leading scientist and medical leaders, then politicized the number one prevention - wearing a mask to the point where his followers stormed state houses and local governments whining about their civil rights being infringed upon to the point that the virus has now run rampant across our country.  We got a first hand view of selfish behavior by those entitled and emboldened by the dumbest individual ever elected to high office.  We watched our economy tank, our education system having to reinvent how to teach remotely, small businesses being shuttered and food lines that had not been seen in this magnitude since the great depression. Our health care system has been taken to brink of collapse with hospitals running out of bed, field hospitals being errected. Nursing homes are a death sentence for their residents, if the virus breached a nursing home the results are catastropich. Depression and other mental health issues have been exasperated due to isolation and domestic abuse rose as folks were forced into close quarters for extended periods without relief. 

As other nations around the world are taking actions to protect and support their citizens the "leaders" in this country looked to an asshole for direction and got shit as a result.

What the pandemic has shown us, what those of us in the Black community have always known, is that there are serious inequities in healthcare, both access and delivery, all based in race.  Black and brown folks die from the virus 3 to 4 times more often than their white counterparts.

Essential employees are the folks that most of you walk past and don't even acknowledge such as sanitation workers, grocery store workers, postal workers, food service workers, janitorial staff, transportation folks, first responders, and teachers. The invisible workers that you don't think about but they are always there and most not even making liveable wages and yet, we found we can't function without them. And let's never forget our front line clinicians and hospital workers who have tirelessly held the line working in war zone like environments and all they ask is that you wear a mask, take precautions and act responsibly. But, some many of our citizens are oppositional to the very activity which is no swear off anyone's back that spread continues seemingly unimpeded.  At one point cold storage trucks were rolling into cities to handle the dead as morgues and funeral homes could not handle the volumes. 

The Corona Virus - Covid 19 is a great summation of what the past 4 years in this country have been - a shit show.  

In November 2020 the asshole was voted out and in December the first vaccine was approved for distribution in the US.  Another cluster.  Of the 25M doses available in this country only 5M have been distributed at this point. Again the fuckery of an administration that can't strategize or execute on a plan for exiting  through an open door let alone moving the vaccine to every state. 

People still refuse to wear a mask and continue to attend large gatherings and super spreader events - the White House hosted at least 4 such events infecting staff, politicians, secret service and anyone else that attended either by choice or requirement (employment). 

Many of us have experienced a loss due to someone dying from the virus either directly or indirectly and yet there is fear over receiving the vaccine primarily because folks are concerned that the government had too much say in what was or wasn't done around development so the trust level is low. 

I wear my mask, limit my interactions and trips outside the house and will get the vaccine when it is available. And, I pray. 

Hoping to reach a point of "post covid".