Corona Log Entry - August 20, 2021

Corona Log Entry- Friday, August 20^th, 2021

       It is a beautiful summer morning, here in the Miami of the North, Buffalo, N.Y. Temperature are in the low 80’s (F), with a brilliant blue sky. We had hit the gym earlier this morning and then stopped for bagels and coffee at SPOT Coffee on Transit Rd. Next, we filed into the Walgreen’s Drug Store and got our Flu shots, for the Fall. Right now, they were more important to us health-wise, than a Covid-19 Booster Shot. Again, I hadn’t planned to continue this narrative, but the Delta variant of Covid-19 has raged across the United States and the world, making conditions as bad as they were during the summer of 2020, when there was no Covid-19 Vaccine.

      Health Officials are calling this “The Pandemic of the Unvaccinated,” because the vast majority of those stricken during the last few months, in the United States,  have been those who for one reason or another, refused to get vaccinated against the virus. Medical personnel are rife with stories of unfortunates, lying in extremis who asked plaintively “Can I now get vaccinated?” Unfortunately, it is too late for them and their soon to be bereaved families. The real tragedy is that the Delta Variant is attacking more and more children, those who parents didn’t think young people needed the vaccine. The virus doesn’t make distinctions, it invades any host not vaccinated against it.

        The CDC has just come out with a recommendation that even those people who are fully vaccinated should seek a “booster shot” eight months after the second shot. Lab tests and studies have shown that protection from Covid-19 can weaken in time. Anyone immune- compromised should get one immediately. Mary and I  both fall into that category, but will wait for our place in line, eight months after the last shot. We should be due in November of this year. The World Health Organization is complaining that it is unfair to give people a third shot against the virus, when much of the world has not even received their first. The U.S has donated a few hundred million doses of the vaccine to other countries around the world. It thinks it has the right to make sure its own population has all of the necessary measures needed to fight the disease.

        Florida, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana are over run with Covid-19 cases, as they were during the height of the original Pandemic. The medical correlation is those states have the lowest proportion of fully vaccinated citizens. Some states register in the 30^th per centile range. Politics is part of the cause. It is thought loyal to the former President if people refuse to get a vaccination shot or wear a face mask to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. A fierce, shouting-level frenzy is invading local school districts who want to protect all in-person students from spreading disease. Parents still scream that it is their “right” to decide who wears a mask and who doesn’t. Our United States Constitution warrants the right of deciding all Public Health laws, vehicle and Traffic laws and penal statues to the states and localities via its conveyance of the “Police Power.”  No one person has a right to ignore these statutes,  without legal jeopardy. You don’t get to drive 100 miles per hour or shoot someone, just because you think you have some vague “right to do what you want.” The legal construct is called “liberty vs. License.”

      Even in officialdom, the plague is raging. Yesterday, here  in the U.S . three Senators announced that they had tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. So too has the Governor of Texas, who is adamantly opposed to wearing masks. This disease is a killer looking for victims. So far, some 642,000 Americans has perished from Covid-19 related causes. The rate of vaccinations is slowly climbing across the country, in the face of this newest scourge, but it will be months before this plague hopefully weakens it grip on us.

      In the world around us, attention is riveted on the chaos of the U.S. withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, after 20 blood-soaked and costly years. In the face of a small rag tag band of Mujahedeen warriors, 300,000 Afghan soldiers have thrown down their weapons and blended into the crowd. Their national leaders have fled the country, leaving their people to the not so tender mercies of the Taliban. The rapid departure has caused panic and pandemonium for those trying to flee the country. Seven thousand U.S military personnel now have secured the perimeter of the Kabul airport and are assisting six to seven thousand people per day, in their efforts to leave Afghanistan.

       In Washington D,C, the Congress is still haggling over the Infrastructure Bill. All legislators pretty much want this “goodies bill.” Some want to attach a variety of conditions, in order to gain their vote. They just might succeed in collapsing the whole process. Arguments on raising taxes and adding additional social programs are woven through the rhetoric. No wonder nothing ever gets done at the Federal Level.

        In the background, of all of this legislative drama is the erosion of voting rights enacted by several Republican controlled Legislatures. They are vying to prove an old street aphorism. “If you want to win an election, you have to do it the old-fashioned way, steal it.” It will take some type of Federal legislation, to reenact and safe guard the voting provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The upper level courts are now packed with Conservatives, who will not help protect anyone other than their patrons. Where are all of the impartial, fair-minded judges that we have always been taught reign supreme in America’s Capitol?

     Locally, several businesses are closing, because they can’t find enough workers. Many are reducing their hours of service for the same reason. Where are all of the people who claim that they can’t find jobs? There is a disconnect here that we haven’t yet figured out how to rectify. The economy is faltering. You would never know it by watching the Dow Jones index. It purrs along at the 34,000-point level as it has throughout this entire pandemic. 

      I had hoped to be able to put this Corona narrative to bed, but it looks like I will need to make a few more entries to compete the tale of “Living in The Time of Corona.” Until that time, we will get through this awful plague, one day at a time.

                                                   -30-

                                          (1.096 words)

                                     Joseph Xavier Martin

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