Category Archives: medical news

medical news

Pandemic = confusion

This blasted pandemic is confusing me to no end. Many things remain constant: masks work; vaccines are essential; social distancing is preferred.

Now, though, we hear that the Omicron variant — the latest such offshoot of the killer pandemic — is on the verge of petering out. It’s peaking soon, the medical pros tell us. We are going to see a dramatic reduction in infection, hospitalization and worse … quite soon.

Herd immunity. Do you remember that one? Now I hear that Omicron is going to infect damn near everyone. Not if we can help it in our North Texas home. We don’t want to test positive for anything resembling the virus. So far, so good on that one.

As for what lies ahead, we hear now that we might have this virus among us practically forever. We will have to treat it like the flu, or the common cold, nothing worse than that.

Hey, if that’s what lies ahead, I am OK with that.

I just am a bit puzzled as to what to expect, when to expect it and how to deal with it if and when it — whatever “it” is — arrives.

And, no … I do not blame Anthony Fauci for this, or the CDC’s Rachel Wallensky, or President Biden.

This world of ours is treading onto territory it hasn’t seen before.

I am going to deal with my confusion in due course and hope for the best as we battle through this pandemic.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Fauci has earned his spurs

Critics of Dr. Anthony Fauci have been asking a legitimate question about his credentials, which is: What makes his opinions matter so much over those of other infectious disease experts?

I’ll give you my take on that.

It is because Fauci, who serves as President Biden’s chief medical adviser involving the coronavirus pandemic, has survived through multiple presidential administrations — of both parties and all sorts of differing political ideologies.

Starting with the Reagan administration, then through the Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, Anthony Fauci has been a constant presence.

He has given sound advice to all those men. He has earned the respect of most of them (Donald Trump’s petulant response to some of the good doctor’s pronouncements notwithstanding). Trump’s political allies remain in Congress, and they have taken up the anti-Fauci cudgel on behalf of the ex-POTUS.

I am going to stand with the Ivy League-educated physician and researcher, though, as he seeks to explain the consequences of the pandemic and the assorted variants it has spawned.

What’s more, I applaud him for fighting back fiercely against what I believe are scurrilous and slanderous attacks on his character.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Don’t apologize, doc

The ol’ “hot mic” caught another public official speaking the truth about a political adversary.

The “victim” this time was Dr. Anthony Fauci, who muttered “what a moron” after being berated by U.S. Sen. Roger Franklin, a Kansas Republican, about Fauci’s personal financial disclosure. The exchange took place Tuesday during a Senate committee hearing.

My request to the doc is this: Don’t apologize!

Franklin was berating Dr. Fauci over financial disclosures that Fauci said are a matter of public record. All anyone has to do is look them up on the Internet. Franklin wasn’t buying it. He didn’t know what he was talking about, Fauci said.

So, then he muttered the “moron” crack.

Hey, he was speaking the proverbial truth to power in that instance.

To my way of thinking, Fauci should say out loud and on the record that other GOP critics of his are “morons” for spreading lies and exposing the doctor’s family to threats of physical harm.

Are you listening, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Virus is here forever?

Admission time: It is beginning to look as though we’re going to have the coronavirus around for as long as most of us are alive.

That’s what I keep hearing as I listen to the news and read various publications. It makes me wonder: Will the virus continue to disrupt our lives?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president’s senior medical adviser, today was dishing out a bit of good news. He said that the virus will morph perhaps by the end of the year from a “pandemic” to an “endemic” disease, meaning that it will still be around but will be manageable enough for us to avoid major life disruptions.

Well … I can live with that.

The “new normal” appears now to include a lifetime with this virus lurking in the background. At least that’s what I glean from it at the time being.

As I have noted already, the idea of wearing masks is seeming to be more “normal” than not wearing one. I’ve been able to travel a good bit over the years and have noticed masks are the “uniform of the day” for most folks in places with poor quality. Residents of Asian cities such as Bangkok, Taipei, Delhi, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Mumbai wear masks routinely as they go about their day. Now they have a virus to keep them masked up.

So, it might be for most of the rest of the world.

I’m OK with it, too — as long as it keeps my loved ones and me safe from the virus.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Turning the COVID corner … again?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a new rule that shortens the quarantine time for those who have the COVID virus. It’s now down to just five days.

Well … what does that mean?

It used to be for two weeks; then it went to 10 days; now it’s just five days.

I get that the Omicron variant isn’t as deadly as previous variants. It’s just far more contagious. It is why I am masking up — again! — when I enter indoor venues populated by people I do not know. It’s also why I am washing my hands frequently — again! — with soap and water. It’s also why I am more mindful of social distancing — yes, again!

I hope the new CDC rule bodes more promising for how Omicron is going to progress.

I also want an end to the constant stream of COVID-related news.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Ready and waiting for an end … to the pandemic

Oh, brother. Let me count the reasons why I am so ready for the pandemic that has become part of our daily lives to be under control enough for it to no longer dominate every news cycle I watch.

The docs the networks trot out keep telling us that the current surge, the Omicron variant, will continue for a while longer. Then they tell us those who are stricken by it won’t be as sick as before, but that there will be more of them.

I am counting my lucky stars, my blessings and every little thing I can count for the fact that my wife and I have remained free of the virus. Same for our sons and their loved ones. One of my sisters got quite sick a year ago; her husband was asymptomatic with the virus. They’re recovering and I am thankful for that, quite obviously.

However, I am so-o-o-o-o ready for this virus to be controlled. The vaccines are working. They have those oral meds that prevent occurrences. I might stock up on the pills if I am able to find an outlet to acquire them.

It’s becoming clearer to me that we aren’t likely to exterminate the COVID virus. We’ll just need to corral it and keep a sharp eye on it.

I am OK with that. I just am ready to be free of the news barrage dealing with the COVID virus.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Dr. Fauci: national hero

People who weaponize lies are killing people.”

That wise phrase came from Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been the target of “weaponized lies” for about, oh, the past couple of years. The lies are coming from right-wing critics who refuse to accept the truth he is telling about the disease that continues to kill Americans every day.

Some of the more strident critics have talked openly about fitting Fauci with an “orange jump suit.” They want to lock him up. They want to charge him with criminal acts.

This is absurd, ridiculous. It is utter trash.

I am fed up to here with the gutter talk that comes from the right-wingers who are fabricating reasons to oppose the doctor, who happens to be the nation’s foremost infectious disease expert. Donald Trump brought him on board ostensibly to assist the administration in developing an anti-COVID strategy; Fauci sought to do what the president asked, only to have Trump undercut him.

Trump lost the 2020 election and the new POTUS, Joe Biden, came on board. He retained Fauci and has since allowed the learned physician to talk openly to us about what we need to do to escape the clutches of the virus. President Biden has stayed the hell out of the way!

None of that has silenced the critics.

The Fox News blowhards — led by Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity — have led the phony amen chorus calling for Fauci to be charged with some dubious criminal act.

They have allies in Congress who say the same thing. One of them, a Republican who represents the Texas Panhandle, is a former physician and Navy flag officer. Ronny Jackson has picked up the falsehood weaponry and is firing it at Dr. Fauci.

Jackson is a disgrace to the office he occupies.

As for Fauci, I consider him to be a national hero.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Trump angers the cultists?

Now comes word from the hinterland that Donald Trump’s praise for vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic is drawing the ire of the cultists who continue to cling to some phony suspicion about whether the vaccines work.

Of course they work! Donald Trump recently has stepped up his support of the vaccines in the wake of President Biden’s praise over his predecessor’s work to make them available.

Some of the diehard Trump loyalists, though, ain’t buying the notion that the former POTUS is pushing, that they are doing the job they are intended to do.

And that only the unvaccinated are the remaining Americans who are “getting really sick” from the pandemic and its assorted variants.

They are mistaken. The former president is correct.

There. I said it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Rapprochement? Really?

Say it’s so. Then again, it’s an impossibility, given what these two men have said to and about each other for, oh, the past two or three years.

There was President Biden offering a word of praise for his immediate predecessor, Donald J. Trump, for declaring he had taken the COVID booster shot and for the speed of the development of the vaccine.

Then came word from Trump that he was “surprised” and “pleased” that his successor would give him a shout out. Trump then said Biden’s kindness makes it difficult for Trump to speak critically of the president.

Hmm. Now, we all know that the two men aren’t likely to call a halt to the name-calling, the insults, the epithets, the nastiness that has brewed between them. I mean, Trump still preaches The Big Lie about the 2020 election being stolen by non-existent widespread voter fraud. All of that surely must sting Joe Biden, given the historic nature of his victory and the immense voter turnout that elected him the 46th president of the United States.

There is no rapprochement likely. Then again, stranger events have occurred.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

POTUS praises ex-POTUS

President Biden today did something worthy of a word of praise, as it shows a largeness of spirit that too often was missing from his immediate predecessor.

Biden today offered a word of praise to Donald J. Trump for getting a booster shot — and admitting to it — and for the development of the vaccines that are protecting 200 million or so Americans from the killer COVID-19 virus and its assorted variants.

Imagine the former POTUS doing such a thing. I know. It wouldn’t happen. It won’t happen.

Biden’s magnanimous spirit comes in the heat of a contentious political climate. His immediate predecessor keeps spewing The Big Lie about “rampant voter fraud” in the 2020 election and yet the man who defeated him in that election found a moment today to toss a bouquet at the former POTUS.

It might that President Biden has an ulterior motive. He well could be appealing to that base of Trump cultists who refuse to get vaccinated. It might be that he is seeking to soften their foolish resistance to the vaccine. Whatever it takes … you know?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com