A woman walks among the Spanish flags placed in memory of coronavirus (COVID-19) victims in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020. An association of families of coronavirus victims has planted what it says are 53,000 small Spanish flags in a Madrid park to honor the dead of the pandemic.
(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) used here with AP permission.
Should we be afraid?
by Jamie McKenzie (about author)
That certainly is an essential question!
Leaving the hospital after three days of treatment for COVID-19, President Trump told Americans that they should not be afraid of the virus.
"Don't be afraid of COVID.
Don't let it dominate your life."
Should we be afraid?
Ask the families of the 210,000 Americans who have died so far from the virus.
CNN did just that. Read and hear their responses here.
Is it possible this man could be so out of touch with reality that he would make such an absurd statement?
Pumped up on steroids and experimental drugs not available to regular citizens, the President seemed intent on pulling a cowboy stunt and proving his manhood instead of setting an example of safe behavior. He pulled off his mask before striding into the White House. Then he reappeared unmasked with a camera crew to film his entrance one more time without a mask.
Adding insult to injury, he later falsely claimed that COVID is less dangerous than flu. Facebook removed his post.
How Do COVID-19’s Annual Deaths and Mortality Rate Compare to the Flu’s? (quoted from GoodRX.com)
According to this dashboard at Johns Hopkins, the case fatality ratio of COVID-19 in the US is 3.1%. The case fatality rate for influenza will obviously change year to year. But news reports and the World Health Organization often estimate it at around 0.1%. While the medical community is still learning about mortality from COVID-19, it does appear to be more deadly than the flu.
That means flu will usually kill one person in a thousand cases, while COVID-19 will kill 31.
No wonder Facebook removed President Trump's false claim that COVID is no worse than the flu.
For some this is torture and ruin
For those with serious cases of COVID-19, even those who survive, the experience is excruciatingly painful, terifying and damaging, physically, emotionally and financially.
How could President Trump summarily dismiss this reality?
Cut off from loved ones, not allowed visitors and isolated in intensive care wards with machines pumping away to keep them alive, the sick must face this menace alone, and if they die, their wives, their husbands and their loved ones may not sit beside them and hold their hands as they pass on.
From afar
I cannot come with you
My love
Cannot visit
Or say goodbye
Cannot hold your hand
Or guide you through this darkness
This plague
Descending now
I cannot hold you close
Shelter you
Comfort you
And whisper that I love you
I cannot be with you
As a husband should be
For better
Or for worse
Until death do us part
I must keep my distance
And cannot keep my vows
And so it is
My love
I must say adieu
Now
From afar
Farewell
Au revoir
Until we meet again
I will hold you
Forever
Close
In my heart
And in my mind
I will be
Forever yours
© Jamie McKenzie
Real men wear masks
© J. McKenzie
Fear of COVID-19 is warranted given its horrible impact on the lives of millions of people. Fear might also help motivate people to wear masks and avoid crowding together, but the President has turned masks into a sign of cowardice, as if it is unmanly to wear a mask. The consequences? A White House that has been ravaged by contagion because the staff was encouraged to ignore safe behaviors.
This is not a John Wayne western, and COVID does not care about your politics or the hat you may wear. It does respect masks and social distancing.
DJ Koessler @DJKoessler -- October 4 was the National COVID-19 Day of Remembrance. 20,000 empty chairs on the Mall to honor the 209,000+ lives lost. All within eyesight of the White House.
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