covid-19 - This Little Light

November 26, 2021November 26, 2021

Riddle me this: COVID conspiracy!

Personal statement:

I am a scientist, a doctor, a believer in the centuries of scientific methods and reasoning that have gone back and forth to come to our, though still learning, very sophisticated and successful medical advancements. I am also a believer in God. Go figure.
I do NOT, at all, like politicians or care what they have to say about science, as they know little to none of what experts have spent their lives studying and perfecting.
Scientists and researchers are not rich people and do not benefit much at all compared to their toils for the great things they do and come up with.
There will be individuals in every profession who think radically and do not go with the vast majority of evidence or research findings – this cannot be helped, but the one outlier is MUCH less likely to have the right answer than the 99% of the others. That’s just statistics.
Politics should NEVER have an influence on science and how the people are presented with facts – this is dangerous and irresponsible. (Besides, political parties are like football teams and the voters can be like the fanatical fanbase. Tom Brady is, like, the best quarterback, but people hated him because he played for the Patriots. He can play for your least favorite team, but this does not retract from the fact that he is, currently, the best. The same idea extends to a fantastic vaccine coming out and because your political base says it’s bad when the science says it’s not, is just down right irresponsible, and even murderous.)

So, that being out of the way, lets talk conspiracies (I’ve actually heard – like, for reals) surrounding the science.

First conspiracy: “The Government wants you to get vaccinated because they make money off your getting the vaccine.” Okay, this doesn’t make sense at all. The vaccine is currently free. The government is paying for the vaccine for everyone. I’m sure this will have an expiration date, however, and once they feel everyone has had a reasonable window to get vaccinated, they will stop paying for it and the pharmaceutical companies will charge whatever they want.

**All family members over 5: Vaccinated – for free!**

Second: “The hospitals are making up COVID death diagnosis to get more money from the government.” The government IS subsidizing hospitals for COVID cases whether they die or not because the cost to treat COVID is ridiculously expensive with the intensive care patients require: the isolation protocol and days to weeks of oxygen which can be charged by the hour. Many people don’t have insurance or insurance isn’t covering all of it, so costs go to tax payers – which seems to be another good reason to get that free vaccine. The hospitals are NOT making up COVID diagnosis to get the subsidies, however, that is fraud and a serious violation that could lead to license loss and/or litigation that no one wants to deal with. It is true that some people have other disease processes and then contract COVID which brings them over the edge. Some may argue that COVID didn’t kill these people, that they were sick with other things already, but their other disease processes were controlled, being maintained carefully through medications, diet, therapy, etc, then they got COVID, and their body couldn’t take it anymore. So, without COVID, these people could have lived another several years to decades.

**Facts all jumbled get hard to decipher**

Third: “The government is pushing the vaccine because there’s a microchip in it and they can, then track your every movement.” Do you have a phone? They don’t need a microchip in your body because you willingly carry one in your pocket at all times. Also microchips are huge – like the size of a rice grain and you would need a MUCH larger needle. Also, how would they differentiate which vaccines had the chip in them? The first vaccine? The booster?

**Removed arm to remove microchip – JK**

Fourth: “The government invented this virus to kill the population.” OR “The government is pushing the vaccine because they know it will kill us”…. *crickets* Does this make sense to anyone? If everyone dies, who will pay their taxes? How does having less people benefit the government? We DO know the government is also made up of people – people who are also susceptible to the virus, right?

Fifth: Not so much of a conspiracy as just very bad information being propagated: “The vaccine is experimental and developed too fast” The vaccine for viruses like COVID has been in development for many years – now that there is a need for them, they already had all the parts, they just needed to assemble. The trials vaccines are required to go through were also all completed. The vaccine is safe. Like 1000x safer than the disease. Everyone talks about how harmless the virus is “it’s just the flu” even though almost 800,000 people have died in the US, but even with the only 1.6% death rate_T, the vaccine is 1000x safer, with a death rate of 0.0022%. So, if you love your neighbor, get vaccinated.

T: Current COVID deaths in the US is 793,958 with 48,643,963 cases. Therefore, death rate is deaths/cases= 0.016 x 100 = 1.6% deaths. For fun, I looked up some PAST flu data since people are claiming Flu doesn’t seem as bad because everyone is reporting COVID now. In 2017-2018 Flu cases was 41,000,000, flu deaths were 52,000. Deaths/cases= 0.0013×100 = 0.13% deaths. In other words, no, COVID is not just like the flu, you are 10X more likely to die from COVID.

**My brother preparing to paint my basement ceiling – not appropriate fit for dealing with COVID patients**

In conclusion, this virus is costing the government a LOT of money – between subsidizing hospitals for the increased costs, paying for vaccine development from multiple companies and continued vaccination of the public, not to mention the cut to the economy with 700,000 less available workers and trying to keep the remaining people safe with closures. None of this would benefit the government in any way. It just doesn’t make sense to think of the virus or the vaccine as a conspiracy.

To end this segment, I’m going to steal a story my dad told me recently. He has retired from working 31 years at Warner Robins Air Force base (civilian) and has since been picked up by a large Department of Defense contractor to keep up his good work (whatever that is, we don’t talk about it – which works out because I don’t tell him what I do either…. because he’d vomit). Any who, he was talking to a guy at one of the facilities and they were just talking the typical weather, football, small talk, then my dad went to walk away when the guy said “Hey, what do you think this whole COVID vaccine? Kinda crazy isn’t it?” My dad said, “Listen, I’m vaccinated and here’s why; my momma is 91 years old and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I thought even for a moment that I got her sick and caused her to die. Let me tell you another thing, I’ve been on a military base for 31 years before I started here, and working around all of those soldiers who spent time overseas getting shot at, giving up large chunks of their lives with loved ones, risking their lives every single day, sometimes living in hot, miserable conditions for months to years for people they don’t even know, just to keep them safe. I thought, a vaccine was a pretty small sacrifice I could make for my fellow American.”

January 15, 2021

Curbside Chaos – working in a new environment: COVID-19

April 19, 2020

TT: COVID-19 Update part 2

Alright, here we go. It’s been a little over a month since I wrote about how Emily, the kids, and I are doing while in the grip of the Corona virus. In general we are doing very well, and for that I am thankful, (perhaps not as thankful as I should be considering all the people that are truly suffering from COVID-19). But, to say that ours lives have not been completely changed in the past two months would be very wrong. I’m not sure if (the proverbial) you would classify this post as complaining or whining, but I’m going to think of it as an update on how we’re feeling and how we’re coping with our new found life.

**Emily’s quarantine Birthday, one of the 2 time’s we’ve gotten take-out.**

Luckily Emily and I both still working. The vet clinic where we work is still open and fully functioning, we are not turning any clients away and seeing all kinds of appointments (not just emergencies). I know most people have been quarantined to their house, their place of business has been shuttered, and they are staying home to self isolate and help flatten the curve. Emily and I have “essential” jobs and I am thankful. Our lives have maintained a certain amount of consistency because of this. We get up, we drop off our kids at daycare (still open for essential employees), we go to work, we pick up the kids, and we go home. But there is so much more stress and anxiety with everyday life now. I’m awake and writing this at 3:30 on Sunday morning. Neither of us sleep very well anymore, the corona virus is ever present in our thoughts, and the kids’ lives have been very much changed.

At work: at work COVID-19 is always present, always lurking around the next corner. We clean insistently. Every thirty minutes each phone, computer, calculator, door handle, and any other surface that is generally touched gets wiped down. Clients are no longer permitted in the building and that has been the case for a while now. We’ve tried to pair doctors and assistance to cut down on people’s exposure to one another. Everyone at the clinic wears a face mask to catch any sneeze or cough. But, even with all these precautions, COVID-19 lingers. There have been three coworker leave work due to illness. None of them have been tested, let alone tested positive for corona virus. But still, we have had three different cases of illness at the clinic. As an assistant, it’s my job to go out to the client’s car to get the patient and the patient’s history. Every time I go out to talk to a client, I can’t help but wonder if this client is sick, or have they been exposed before coming here. Is this next client taking social distancing seriously, are they wearing a mask to protect me from their coughs and sneezes? I have personally had clients try to hug me since this began. I’ve had several clients try to shake my hand, I’ve been coughed on, sneezed on, I’ve had a client put a pen in their mouth before attempting to hand it back to me (I politely declined the pen). COVID-19 and the fear lingers everywhere at work. Mostly I fear taking it home. I don’t fear getting sick myself, this is probably overconfidence, but I do fear being the one to get my kids sick.

**Calvin’s makeshift mask. I think it’s covering the wrong part of his face!!**

At home: at home the fear is more distant. When I’m at home the fear feels like it’s “out there.” It isn’t here, it isn’t present, but it is still lurking. Trying to find a way in to our little bubble of safety. Emily goes to the grocery store once a week or every other week to buy food, and that is our extent with contact to the wider world except through work and daycare. When we are not working we are home. In general it’s been nice. We’ve started new quasi education projects. We’ve learned that vinegar will eat the egg shell off an egg, now we have a very squishy egg sitting in a glass jar (we also learned that the egg will absorb some of the vinegar and expand – now the egg can’t fit through the top of the jar.) We have also started a container ecosystem. The kids and I went down to the creek on our property and collected rocks, mud, plants, and creek water in a big container. So far we have seen some worm looking things crawling in the mud, some bug creatures swimming around the surface, and two tadpoles swimming around. We’ve also started a garden, started taking walks around the neighborhood, and many other little projects. Without school, Emily and I are trying to educate the kids at home. This is very tough due to the lack of change in our schedules, we still work five days a week. Instead of reading to the children at night, they now read to us, the school has provided packets of work for them to do, and we’re rehearsing sight words. I hope it’s enough, India is in first grade and Oscar is in kindergarten so school isn’t too challenging. We are, however, getting restless. Understandably, the kids want to go to the park, they want to go to church to see their friends. I find myself staring at the mountains longing to go hiking again, the walks around the neighborhood are nice but they aren’t quite the same. We all long to be out in the world again, to eat dinner at a restaurant or to play at park, but we are making due at the house.

At least the media and social media seems to have more fully understood the dire situation we are in. I no longer hear a lot of people down playing COVID-19, although you still have your outliers like the quarantine protesters in Lansing, MI (even though Michigan has one of the highest disease rates in the nation) and “Dr.” Phil who compared COVID-19 to car accidents. In general we as a society now understand the risk that we are currently living with. Most clients are taking social distancing seriously, most clients are wearing masks when I go out to talk to them, and I’ve even had some clients cancel non emergency appointments because they didn’t want to risk their health for an appointment that could easily be rescheduled. Emily and I are trying to do our part, I think most of the people out there are doing their parts. I can’t imagine that this will go on indefinitely. This is not the new normal, but hopefully just a blip (a very scary and difficult blip) in our lives.

On a lighter note, there have been some good things to come out of being quarantined with the family. Work is more stressful but also more fun without the clients in the building. At work we can talk about things we would never talk about with clients in the building. Conversations tend to be more frank and honest and language is a tad more colorful (helps with stress relief). Patients’ histories are more direct. As a family we’ve learned that McDonald’s is still open even though Emily and I tried our hardest to convince the kids that it was closed. I look weird with a shaved face (I’ve grown back the goatee), and Emily likes to dye her hair pink. Trying to teach a 2 year old anything school wise is almost impossible(we tried to teach Calvin to write his name). We’ve also learned how to better be content with what we have and enjoy those around us. Enjoyment and fun is not found out of ourselves but comes from within.

Tell us what you think, how is COVID-19 effecting you and your lives? And, as always, thanks for reading.

March 14, 2020

TT: COVID-19 update: Surviving Quasi Quarantine

**We’re getting comfortable around the house.**

Sorry for how long it’s been since my last post. First we had a rough bout of flu sweep through the house, then we had some technical difficulties with our computer. But finally everything seems to be up and running again. We are all health and happy, and we bought a new computer to replace the one that was broken. Now we are in the grip of COVID-19. The kids’ schools are closed for at least two weeks, and I’m sure daycare will close soon. Once daycare closes, I will have to stay home from work. I can’t imagine I will have enough sick leave to get paid through the two weeks. Emily (being a doctor and all) will still have to go in to work. Pets still get sick and injured after all. On the plus side (if daycare closes and I become a temporary stay at home dad) I will have more time with the kids, and frankly more time to post on this blog as an outlet for being a stay at home dad. Good conversation is hard to come by when you’re home with the kids all day.

We went to Target today to do a little supply stocking. While there I saw a person wipe down a shopping cart with Lysol wipes. My first reaction was to think that wiping down a cart was over kill, but I quickly changed my mind. I have no idea what “overkill” is these days. We didn’t go crazy and buy 144 rolls of toilet paper, but we did by some frozen foods that will keep for a while, some extra cereal for the kids, and (of course) ice cream. We’ve got a couple of loaves of bread in the freezer, a good amount of canned foods, and plenty of rice. I think we’ll be fine. But that is the real problem with COVID-19 in my opinion. I really have no idea if we are over prepared or grossly under prepared. There is so much information out there and half of it contradicts the other half. Some things you see on the news talks about this as a global crisis that could be devastating, while others refer to COVID-19 as little more than a joke. The idea of “Just wash your hands” doesn’t jive with people fighting in stores over the last roll of toilet paper.

**India has made herself a little pocket with a fitted sheet on the couch.**

Social Media is no help at all. I know that Facebook should never be a trusted source of information, but most of us spend a significant amount of time on social media. We get bombarded with misinformation about this disease to the point of exhaustion. And, for me, exhaustion is the point where I stop caring so much. I truly don’t know if I should be terrified or if this whole thing is a big joke. I know places like China and Italy have been hit extremely hard, but is that going to happen here? I feel like there was a big push to make us not worry about COVID-19 for a long time, but now we’ve hit the panic button.

Our response as a nation has been confusing. We’ve closed the borders as far as international travel is concerned. India and Oscar’s school is closed for at least the next two weeks, but daycare is still open. Oscar has soccer practice on Tuesday that is still scheduled to happen. The government downplayed COVID-19 for all most a month, but now we are in a national state of emergency. Should I take the kids to daycare and go to work Monday? Emily’s and my line of work can’t stop. Animals will need help no matter what is going on in the world and where there are sick animals, there will be their potentially contagious owners. If an owner is sick and infects me, and I bring it home and infect my kids…I don’t know. It would be hard to deal with. On the other hand, spreading disease to my family through contact with others is something I’ve risked long before COVID-19 was a concern of mine.

**Calvin found some vampire teeth from Halloween**

So, yeah. I know this is a ranting rambling post, but it is an honest post. And, I bet a lot of people feel similarly to me. I don’t really know what to think of COVID-19. Is it similar to the flu (and thus not to be feared [I know the flu so I don’t fear the flu]) or is this a new much scarier upper airway disease. My true fear is for India. She has asthma and I am truly terrified she will get sick and end up in the hospital again where there could be a shortage of hospital beds. I don’t want her to know my fear and spread my fear to her. I want life to go on much as it always had, but I also don’t want to bury my head in the sand and pretend like COVID-19 doesn’t exist or pose a threat to my family.

Last but not least, Emily and I were recognized and thanked for our posts in Target. Shout out to the lady that saw us in Target, I wish I had asked your name, instead of just saying “thank you.” Tell us if you guys are afraid of what’s going on with COVID-19, or if the disease doesn’t scare you. And, as always, thanks for reading.