The hallmark of American greatness is freedom. That is
really what America is all about. The American people are guaranteed the right
to do whatever they please provided it does not hurt any individual or society
in general. Although we haven’t
always lived up to that in every case, as recently demonstrated by the extent
that racism still exists here, we have nevertheless been going in the direction
of improving it to the point where it will hopefully be applied equally to all.
If there is anything that Americans are aware of, it is the freedom we have. It has often been said, freedom comes at a price. That usually means that
a lot of people have died fighting wars and battles in service to that ideal. But
there is another price. One that we may actually be paying right now via the
massive increase across the country in people testing positive for COVID-19.
What has freedom go to do with that? A lot of people,
especially young people who tend to be more self-centered than those of us who are
‘older and wiser’ have just about abandoned any attempt to treat the pandemic
with the seriousness it deserves.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (which may actually
be an advantage with respect to preventing being infected) you know there has
been a massive spike in people testing positive for the virus. Mostly by people under the age of 40.
Because freedom is so taken for granted by the young,
they have become the ‘me generation’. When they are advised to stay home and
not socialize too many of them see it as
an infringement of that right.
What about the possibility of getting sick? They
seem not to care. The feeling is that they are young and healthy and will
either not get sick – or if they do, they will easily overcome it.
Now that some states have opened up bars and
beaches albeit with COVID restrictions groups of young revelers have been packing
them but completely ignoring all of the restrictions. Those states are now overwhelmed with massive cases of positivity. Every day for the past couple of weeks or so it seems like another state is added
to the list of those with massively increased cases of COVID.
It’s nice that these young people want their freedom and
feel like they are virtually immune to the disease. But what about their loved
ones who are not so immune? As noted at YWN:
A U.S. government report says death rates are 12 times higher for coronavirus patients with chronic illnesses than for others who become infected.
Young people may not suffer from it so much if they get it,
but the fact is that so far - over 500,000 people have died from the disease
worldwide. Most of them in high risk categories such as those over 50; those
with compromised immune systems; or other health issues. (That is one reason
nursing homes have been hit so hard.)
Do these young people not care about their own parents and grandparents?
Or people on chemotherapy? Or people that have asthma, diabetes, or heart
disease? They must know how contagious COVID-19 is even when there
are no symptoms. Which is a lot more common among the young.
I guess they just don’t think about it. Which may be why
they are called the ’me generation’! They just want to have fun and not be
bothered. ‘It’s a free country, isn’t it?’ Until one of them infects a loved
one that gets so sick - gets hospitalized, placed on a ventilator, and subsequently
dies.
The US is by far the country with the largest number of
cases. Perhaps there is something to be
said about too much freedom?
My freedom stops at your door. And your freedom stops at
mine.
Freedom does not give anyone the right to behave in ways
that endanger others. Which is exactly what these young people are doing by
packing themselves in to bars and beaches without thinking about how that may
eventually affect others. The states that opened these places up are guilty of
negligence in my view. They weren’t thinking either.
While I’m quite happy about the fact that my state was not
one of those and therefore has a low positivity rate, I’m not sure how long
that will last. Illinois is not closing its borders. Which means it may only be
a matter of time before we are added to the list of significantly increased
positivity.
The point of all this is that COVID-19 has not gone away. It
is still here in ‘all its radiant glory.’ It is just as deadly now as it has
ever been. And just as insidious in how it spreads. Adding to this is the fact
that we keep finding new things about this virus everyday that make it even
worse than we realized the day before. Such as what YWN reported:
According to a recent study conducted by Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Yerushalayim, more than half of the patients who have recovered from COVID-19 suffer from weakness and respiratory distress after they recover from the virus itself. These symptoms can last several weeks.
The study was conducted by the hospital’s pulmonary institute. It was based on preliminary data gathered from dozens of patients at the hospital who were hospitalized due to suffering from COVID-19. The patients in question displayed symptoms of respiratory distress whether they had a mild, moderate, or serious, case of the disease.
I wonder, are these symptoms permanent?
It’s true that the number of patients studied are too few to determine
whether this is statistically significant. Nevertheless the results of this study are very
concerning.
There is one interesting sidebar to all of this which does
make me wonder. There does not seem to be a spike in cases because of
all of ‘black lives matter’ protests. Places like New York City and Chicago have seen no real spike in cases. Despite the fact that there were many weeks of massively attended protests with people close together while significant numbers of
them ignored any protective measures. Why there is no spike due to the massive number of protests over the last
few weeks, while there is a spike in the above-mentioned cases is a mystery to
me.
I am of course not an immunologist. But logic dictates that
we will all sooner or later be back where we started – in all states. More
people will get sick and more people will die at rates matching the early
stages of the disease back in March. Which begs the following questions. Will we go back
to closing down the country the way we just did? And what will happen to an
already damaged economy if we do? The effects of which may be more devastating than the Great Depression. And will there be any resistance - now that we have all experienced some relief from those restrictions if they are reinstated? Will it make things even worse if there is?
I don’t have any answers. But I hope we come up with a vaccine real soon. The possible consequences if we don't are too horrible to contemplate.
