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pandemic

dianeseattle

dianeseattle

Member
This is my opinion and it's not authorative, nor is it intended to be empirically factual. It is cautonary.

The pandemic is not over.

In Seattle, people are acting crazy. There have been 10 fatal shootings this month alone, from road ragers to police officers to killings of grocery workers. There have been more than 250 shootings this year, up from fewer than 50 last year.

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I believe the pandemic is the biggest factor in the increase in violence.

I'm scared to go out of my house.

I am writing this because all these places are having these big celebration saying that the pandemic is over. It's not. At very least, people are showing a backlash against the cabin fever and sense of helplessness they feel because of the pandemic, among other factors.

I don't have anything brilliant to say about it. I just wanted to share because I want everyone to be extra safe and take extra care. You can be shot in your car just driving down the street. You never know when you're going to run into some person who has reached a breaking point.

So please don't get complacent and think that we're going to be just fine, because the events of the last couple years have me wondering if maybe Christians are right about the end times, and maybe we are living in them right now. I'm not a Christian. I wish I could be if it would help. I'm just trying to keep myself safe and I want everyone here to stay safe as well. My experience is not unique. Violence is increasing all over the United States.

While we work hard to improve ourselves and our mental health, I think it's important to realize what kind of society we are living in and to take all reasonable precautions to keep ourselves and those we love safe while we are trying to stay healthy.

I hope people who respond to this will do so with kindness and empathy, because I am terrified.
 
Hi Diane—hello from Ballard, in fact, so these stats literally hit home. I’m so sorry you’re feeling so terrified. I don’t leave home much and feel safe here: the house is back from the street, the walls are brick, and the windows are high (mid century modern). This makes me feel as though a random shooting here is unlikely to hurt me or my family. But yes, it is scary out there. My sister and brother-in-law are in South Hill Puyallup and they both commute and work with the general public. The rest of us work from home so are less at risk. My sister is a social worker—her clients are all under stress. I always worry that one will snap during a session.

I do believe that this trend will peak and subside but don’t know how long it’ll be. With evictions coming back in full force soon, I think we’ll see more angry and desperate people for a long while. Seattle has seriously fumbled our homeless crisis so far and I don’t see that improving. Not that I’m blaming the gun violence on the homeless (who probably can’t afford ammunition and have already pawned their firearms) but that the fear of losing your home is powerful and terrifying and pulls at the fabric of society.
 
Diane , I don’t know much about where you live but what you are describing it sounds pretty ugly there. I don’t blame you one bit for being afraid and I don’t have an answer to the problem. Here in California we just opened up again yesterday. We went to Costco yesterday and I went to Target today and I noticed that almost everyone was still masking up even though we don’t have to . Either they don’t watch or read the news or they are still taking precautions. I live in the suburbs of Buena Park and we do have burglarys , stolen cars etc . Now there’s a lot of assault s on Asians in our area . My trainers mom got beaten by someone a couple of weeks ago for no reason at all except I guess for being korean. With California being open now I think there will be more crimes . Also I read the F.BI. Is warning that there could be more attacks by right wing idiota now that there is more freedom out there . You just have to be cautious when you go out .
 
Almost forgot on the brighter side we were lucky enough to go to Disneyland last Thursday and we saw not one celebrity but two. Heidi Clum was n the same line as us getting Dole whip . She is really hot in person . Didn’t get to talk or get picture because she had a bodyguard that I noticed was keeping people away from her . Later on n the day we saw Courtney Cox as we were leaving . Didn’t want to bother her since she was sitting down and eating. And it happened s every time we go to Disneyland Britney Spears shows up the next day . It’s weird but it’s happened at least 4 times either the day before or the day after. At least I got to meet her about 20 years ago
 
Sometimes I feel like we're all in some giant Whack-a-mole game, and every time we emerge from our burrows & poke our heads out, someone's waiting with a rubber mallet to whack us on our heads. I mean this in a semi- humorous non-paranoid way. I never felt like that until the pandemic.

Now that the mask mandates are close to being lifted (June 20th WV Day), the newest mutation of Covid, twice as contagious & probably more deadly, has gained a foothold in 30+ states. I feel so afraid for those not getting their vaccines, and I feel as though desperate people are going to explode when this 4th wave sweeps over us. I do feel better discussing this with my online friends. Thanks for 'listening'
 
I think the media has a lot to do with the fear of COVID. I’m definitely not a Trump supporter and don’t believe his fake news theory or whatever you want to call it but it seems to me the news is a lot to blame . And politicians. I remember them saying. We are probably gonna be wearing masks until 2023 . A week or two later now it’s no masks if you’ve been inoculated. Now all the states are opening up and saying we’re safer and at the same time there’s new variants of COVID . All I know is and this is just my opinion . I got the shots and m 99 percent not worried about getting sick. I can’t go on living in fear because some idiot didn’t get the shots or doesn’t wear a mask . I look at it this way there’s too many anti vaxxers and anti masks out there if they want to get sick and maybe die that’s their problem. We’re gong to have to treat it like we treat the flu now you get the shot or shots and you go about your life.
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Thank you so much for your reassurances. I really appreciate the fact that, even though you know you can't really do anything, you are there to stand beside me.

I wanted to add something very very important. I started saying this at the beginning of the pandemic but nobody would listen to me. People were making other people sick because they thought they couldn't transmit the virus if they used Purell. Sales of Purell were out of sight. I remember a photograph of a guy standing in front of his garage which was full of boxes of Purell, as he had cornered the market. As I recall he ended up eating most of it because it was quickly exposed as ineffective.

All Purell is is some kind of gel with alcohol suspended in it. You might as well wash your hands with alcohol as wash your hands with Purell. Plus, it's cheaper and it dries faster.

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Two other celebrities we saw at Disneyland . I’m a big Cruella fan right now it’s my favorite movie at the moment anyway when my wife and I first got our season passes years ago we met Emma Stone on our first visit she was there for Miley Cyrus’ s birthday party she was pretty cool . Met Miley she was kinda stuck up but friendly at the same time .
 
Diane, I know what you mean about the shootings and violence. It hit very close to home a couple of weeks ago. My daughter's friend who use to live in the next county over (now lives in NC), her son (early 20s) came up for a visit. He was in the backyard of a friends house when a drive-by shooting occurred and killed him. Granted it wasn't in the best area but still, there wasn't even an argument. They still don't know what the motive was. My daughter's friend had to come up to NY to identify the body and then she took him back to NC for burial. So heartbreaking.

I'm in agreement that Covid is not over. Do I feel safer now that I'm vaccinated, yes. However this new variant is very worrisome. I still wear my mask and will continue to do so when I go into stores, etc.
 
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