1,000 folks a week continue to die from Covid in the US. And, frustratingly, exasperatingly, my own friends continue to hold all kinds of willful misinformation close to their chests. Not all, not even half, but many.

And we have yet to honor a national moment of mourning, partially if not wholly for the simple reason that we are not on the same page about this epic loss of life and health.

The other day I was having dinner at Rosetta Hall, and…well:

In thinking about running for local office (Council, Mayor, who knows), last night was a bit of a setback…or a learning experience (I need to be comfortable being exasperated, emotional, which I kinda was around the painful, heartrending subject of millions of lost and damaged lives with no real moment of national mourning…and I need to know my facts in and out or just do my best [which I did, which was okay], or just reply later when I have all the facts.

Either way, it was humbling.

Posted this on Facebook afterward.

Some questions re Covid for those grounded in reality and facts, not “research.”

Was just at dinner with friends with…lots of opinions around Covid, firstly that the pandemic is more or less over, no need to keep boostering/vaxxing.

1,000+ are dying a week, in actuality, in the US alone.

Told me to “research” Zach Busch? Which I will, but gonna guess he’s big with the kind of hippie Trumpers/conspiracy folks that too many of my friends love.

Update: checked him out a bit: he sells supplements and is popular in the conspiracy subreddit on Reddit. Of course folks like this Dr. Bush can misuse so many real issues, like pesticides, say, to appeal to a demographic.

Points they made: so many died in early going, as in NYC, mainly because it was incorrectly treated as respiratory disease, which it’s not. Is that true? They mentioned how all the machines didn’t even help [ventilators] to help folks breathe. Looks like “Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Most people infected with the virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment.” More on this in comments below.

Oh also that flu/influenza is far more serious than Covid, that old nut. I couldn’t remember the facts around this beyond that, no, it’s far less harmful though perhaps it affects far more folks, and yes the flu vaccine is recommended (I get it).

A friend said that the vaccine was rushed. I talked about all the research that went into vaxxes for decades, which Dr. Fauci said made it possible for vaccines to be developed in response fully. But there were three different kinds of vaxxes, my dear friend said, MRNA, etc, right? So does that apply to all three?

My friends have not been boosted. Were vaxxed. Denied being anti-vaxxers, but.

One friend claimed side effects, which I believe are rare and usually minor, especially compared to the far more frequent alternative cost–long term covid, death, the lack of national mourning for perhaps ~2 million Americans because of our vaunted value in our own opinions over those of relevant experts, who themselves are not perfect and learn as they go, but are worth listening to and respecting, including grounded questioning.

Overall, frustrating and offensive and sadly shocking, to me, that such dear smart caring folks are still on such widely different pages. Not only have we learned nothing, we are not mourning our dead or harmed, as a country, because of this kind of love of opinion and “research.”

Some comments on FB from friends following my above post: 

Good info here re development of vaccines, how they were hastened without cutting corners https://www.reddit.com/r/COVID19/wiki/faq/#wiki_vaccines

Zach Bush makes me nauseous. Your friends need to start at episode 1 of Conspirituality Podcast and not stop til they’re done. ~ Cory.

“Since COVID was new, we were learning as we went. Still are because it evolves so dang fast. Scientists were not lying. They were informing as fast as they could learn stuff.
When we give immunizations, it’s like showing the immune system a picture of the pathogen and saying, ” this is the bad guy. If you see it, fight it.” That list of side effects were signs that the immune system was responding. If it did, you know it got the message. They generally don’t last more than 2 days, and if they did last longer, it’s possible that you had something else and didn’t know it yet when you went in for the immunization.
Pfizer and Moderna were mRNA vaccines. The science of mRNA vaccines were in development for about 20 years before COVID hit and it was applied fast. The advantage of mRNA vaccines is they can turn on a dime and reformulate. The disadvantage, we learned is that the neutralizing antibodies wane after about 2 months. The other vaccines available worldwide (and even here) are not mRNA vaccines.

Am I boring you yet?

COVID mutates so fast, every version has somewhat different effects. I agree with Rebecca.
And I do not consider it over when we’re still losing more than 1000 people a day.”

Ngawang, not bored at all. Helpful to have a refresher and hear from sanity, I felt really lonely there and just shocked that good people I love and respect are on such different pages.

Ventilators absolutely saved lives in the first wave. The first wave absolutely was a respiratory disease, largely affecting the lungs. Transmitted by respiration and gaining a foothold in the upper and lower respiratory tracts, yes, this is a respiratory disease.

And more than 1,000 still dying weekly is maddening to me also. This is far from over. Yes, at *this* point (with most people having been infected or at least partially vaccinated), the majority of people will recover without complications. But we are talking such vast numbers of people that 1,000 gets lost in the shuffle. It’s 100% for each of those 1,000.

The MrNA vaccines had been in R&D for 20 years before they were rolled out. The pandemic just gave an opportunity to really give them a try. The non-MrNA vaccines functioned just like all other vaccines we know, with decades’ worth of rolled-out technologies to billions of people worldwide.

The flu can kill and cause lasting harm, and so still can covid. It’s really that simple. Why are people willing to die on the hill of misinformation and self-righteousness rather than helping others heal or save lives? That is what is just beyond me. Do you want to scream your head off and insist you know better than qualified professionals, or do you want to actually help? If you want to help, standing there making claims accomplishes nothing. Roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. ~ R

Waylon:
From early on in the pandemic, but some good stats re flu being far less lethal: https://www.nytimes.com/…/techn…/trump-flu-comments.html
No, the Coronavirus Is Not Like the Flu (Published 2020)

Flu yes is dangerous but the false equivalence…I couldn’t remember the key points.

exactly my point re MrNA, thank you. It’s like building a house for 20 years, then adding the roof in the final month…basically.