RANT: It started here

[dianeseattle]

People in the news just seemed like they couldn't wait to declare New York City the epicenter of COVID 19. And yet, if you think back to March 2020, you will notice the first outbreak was in a rehabilitation center for senior citizens in Kirkland, Washington, right across the lake from Seattle.

Those first hundred cases became 200 cases and involved both senior residents and their caregivers. And the next thing you knew, it spread like wildfire all over the Puget Sound area.

The media response to COVID was ridiculous. People were buying up hand sanitizer like it was uranium ore. Everyone followed everyone else but they didn't do anything positive keep it from spreading. And now it is a pandemic, as real a plague as bubonic plague. We could make it stop but trying to get people to do what needed to be done was the most difficult thing anyone tried to do.

In Washington State, 3,000 people have died and more than 178,000 have been infected. That is just one state.

Today's devastating statistic, right this very minute, is that in the entire state of Washington there are only five empty ICU beds.

FIVE.

It is horrifying to imagine what could happen between now and tomorrow or the next day.

Companies like PURELL should be ashamed of profiting on death by NOT admitting its product does NOTHING to protect or destroy the virus. Only an anti-viral substance can fight a virus. COVID should be taken as seriously as AIDS. We have no cure or effective treatment for either. All medical science can do is try to keep people alive while they fight for life.

I can't stand it. Projections indicate the mortality count will double by 2021.

In the absence of a vaccine, we could almost kill the virus by

• Washing hands
• Wearing masks and face shields
• Staying home as much as possible
• Avoiding unnecessary human contact
• Practicing safe distancing

It's depressing to think of staying home, locked down, not dining out, even though this approach would work really well if everyone got on board. Trying to save small business by patronizing them could have the opposite effect.

But historically, failure to act in concert against an enemy is routine, so people die when they could survive.

FIVE ICU BEDS in the entire state. What if my son, or my best friend, or my doctor got sick tonight? My world would end.

Just wanted to share.

 

[LisaLisa]

I feel you, Diane. I think getting locked down would be so much easier knowing EVERYONE was locked down--meaning it would actually help stop the spread. My family is in Wisconsin (yes, I know!) and they (the 20 somethings) run around with no masks, making fun of everyone wearing one, while their own hospital systems are being overrun with sick patients! Do they not know ONE healthcare provider who has shared the hell that is COVID? Or do they think these committed heroes are just spreading lies about this "hoax." To clarify, my family is not making fun of people for wearing masks, but my sister has been a victim of a "mask-shamer." She a dental hygienist and is forced to adopt strict protocol--thankfully--or maybe she would be dismissive too.

 

[JudyNY]

I feel so bad for the nurses working with Covid patients. My heart really goes out to them. Not only are they physically exhausted but emotionally drained. I suppose those people who don't want to wear masks or practice social distancing won't want to get the vaccine either. People are dying. Why do they not get that? I've lost 4 - my brother in-law, 2 cousins and my other brother in-law's niece to Covid.

 

[missyinacage]

This is definitely a horrifying time. And sadly, I think we all know someone or someoneS who just don't take it seriously. Including our very own government. I work at a casino in NW Indiana. Illinois has shut down their casinos, so we are JAM PACKED and putting in MORE tables. Like 20% of our staff is out with CoVId (rumor has it from a party they all went to). While I am hoping I don't bring it home to my husband/mother (both with underlying conditions). I had a man at work tell me he hasn't seen his mother since January, because it's too dangerous but yet, he's out at the bar with his friends. And coming to work to pass along whatever he picked up to me and therefore MY mother. And THAT right there is the problem. People do not care enough about others to try to protect society as a whole. I refuse to believe they're that stupid, as knowledge is literally at our fingertips 24/7 with the invention of the smart phone. I hope everyone stays safe out there.

 

[dianeseattle]

Channel-surfing, i landed momentarily on a college football game. NOT ONE MASK on coaches or players. I changed the channel so didn't see people in the stands. But this is a f*cking INCUBATOR.

LAST March, people in our group were having surgeries canceled and were upset about it. Even though I sympathized, their disappointment ran parallel to the dozens, then hundreds, of people dying.

In the meantime, it was an election year and the scheduled census. So many international threats were in play. And people blindly followed trends, buying up all the GELLED alcohol they could, which cleans temporarily but does not sanitize or fight viruses.

Because people didn't take this seriously, because our leaders failed to act, eons of time were wasted and hundreds of thousands of people died. Missy, I'm so sorry for your loss.

One of the people whose life changed mine died in a rehab center of a UTI. A few months later my neighbor/friend dropped dead on the floor of her bedroom. I stayed with her body while her boyfriend had a mental collapse. It took six hours to get her body removed by the medical examiner.

I don't know if either death was related to COVID. But I feel raw and since I locked myself in months ago, my days and nights are filled with tears and nightmares.

The most recent speculation is holding at 600k deaths in America as 2021 arrives. Last night our hospitals announced another moratorium on elective surgery.

My beloved niece goes to work every day in one of the two most infested hospitals in my state. She is truly a hero.

I want to send love and hope to everyone here, and please take care of yourself. We may find an effective vaccine by 2021, but it won't matter to anyone who is carrying it right now.

Keep masking up and bite the bullet.