Tag Archives: pandemic

medical news

Vaccine deniers are falling

Marc Bernier, 65, died over the weekend of COVID-19 complications.

Who was this fellow? He was a conservative Daytona, Fla., radio talker who, um, denied vehemently the effectiveness of the vaccines that are saving millions of Americans’ lives from the killer virus. He refused to be vaccinated.

He is reportedly the third such conservative blowhard to die from the disease.

3rd conservative radio host who condemned vaccines dies of CovidPOLITICOSearchSearchClose

I won’t pile on. I wish his family well as they grapple with the grief of losing a loved one.

There is a profound life lesson to be learned from this fellow’s death. It is that vaccines that have been certified as safe and effective by federal public health officials are worth taking. They will save your life. They also will protect your loved ones and others close to you from exposure to deadly disease.

I have to ask: Do you think Marc Bernier would be alive today had he exercised common sense and stayed away from the right-wing “fake news” propaganda?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Listen up, numbskulls

Memo to the numbskulls out there who have resisted taking proven vaccines to guard against the COVID-19 pandemic that is still killing us … I have a message.

If you have declined to take the vaccine but decided to take a whirl with that de-wormer drug, Ivermectin, which is used on livestock — such as horses and cattle and sheep — you are certifiably insane. You need to be committed. You need to have your noggin examined.

Moreover, you won’t get a single moment of sympathy, empathy, sorrow or understanding from me if you suffer any negative side effects from that drug.

There. You’ve been warned.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

One final wish … truly!

Believe it or not, I think I have determined what my final wish on Earth would be.

I want there to be a world in which we no longer discuss the machinations of the 45th president of the United States.

Yet …here we are. Talking these days about whether he wants to run for president in 2024; I will retain my belief that he won’t. He keeps yapping about COVID vaccines and suggests that one of the major drug companies, Pfizer, is in it just for the money. He shows up at rallies, bellows something about the need to get vaccinated and then gets booed by the crowd that doesn’t want to hear it.

What will rid this planet of this idiot? Well, the first answer is the obvious one. I refer to death. But let’s not go there.

For one thing, not even a funeral is going to silence the cultists who continue to follow this guy.

An indictment only would inflame them. That might be in the offing nonetheless, given that the Manhattan district attorney’s office has indicted the company that POTUS 45 owns on tax matters and assorted other criminal activity.

He doesn’t even have the decency to offer a public word of sorrow and sympathy for the service personnel killed by the terrorist who blew himself up at the Kabul airport. The moron …

I keep getting pulled back into the morass this guy created when during his single term as POTUS.

I want out! Now!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, medical news

Vaccines work … dammit!

Take a good look at this graph. It comes from Amarillo, Texas’s public health department.

I realize Amarillo is just one mid-sized American city, but these figures clearly mirror a national trend. It shows that the overwhelming majority of us who are being stricken, sickened and put in peril by the COVID-19 virus haven’t received any vaccination.

The yellow images tell me all I need to know. If you are refusing to receive the vaccine that protects you against the pandemic, you are putting yourself at extreme peril. Worse than that, you also are endangering those who are closest to you.

President Biden has told us repeatedly that the current spike in COVID infections — caused by the Delta variant — is a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

Hmm. What’s the message?

You need to get vaccinated. Today!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Still standing with POTUS

If my phone were to ring and I discovered it was a public opinion pollster, I would answer it and hope that the voice on the other end would ask me my view on the job President Biden is doing.

Do I favor or oppose how he is leading the country?

My answer: Yes … I would give him a favorable rating.

Those who disagree with that view, too bad. I’m sorry you feel the way you do. I make no apologies for feeling as I do about the job President Biden is doing while he leads this country through a global pandemic, seeks to repair the wreckage left by his predecessor and, oh yeah, withdraw our troops and our allies from Afghanistan.

I believe I said during POTUS 45’s term in office that there was nothing on Earth I could picture him doing that would make me think favorably of the job he did.

Conversely, I try to consider what President Biden could do to turn me against the job he is doing. One thing pops out immediately: sending in brigades of fighting forces back into Afghanistan … for starters. Yep, that would do it. So would reneging on his commitment to fighting climate change.

The Afghan War withdrawal surely could have been executed more smoothly. Then again, this country has zero record of ending conflicts cleanly that it has not won outright. The Vietnam War didn’t end the way anyone in this country wanted it to end. Even though our side won virtually all the battlefield encounters with the communists during that bloody war, we lost the political will to keep fighting.

The North Vietnamese army rolled into Saigon, took control of the government, renamed the city after Uncle Ho and the United States was left with trying to explain how it could leave all those allies behind.

President Biden’s national security team is working as near as I can tell to conduct a withdrawal of many thousands of Americans and Afghan allies. The Biden team is actually working — reportedly — with the Taliban to ensure a reasonably safe outcome.

I am not going to turn my back on the president — at least not yet.

Pollsters, if you’re out there, give me a shout. I’ll be glad to answer your questions and give President Joe Biden a thumbs-up on the job he is doing.

— johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Paying folks to protect themselves? Really?

It has come down to this? Holy cow, man!

Texas’s most populous county has been paying residents $100 if they line up to get a shot to protect themselves — and their loved ones — against the COVID-19 virus. Yep, that’s how it’s going down yonder in Harris County.

Never would I have imagined a worldwide health pandemic would devolve into a payment plan to entice those who were reluctant to get vaccinated against a disease that could kill them.

Here is what the Texas Tribune is reporting:

A week after public health officials in Texas’ most populous county started handing out $100 cash cards to locals getting their first COVID-19 shot, the number of daily vaccinations has shot up to six times its previous rate, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Tuesday.

“We had an inkling that something was going right when I started my announcement [about the incentive] at noon, and by the time I was done, 30 minutes later, there was a line of cars waiting to receive the vaccine,” Hidalgo said. “We haven’t seen those lines for months.”

COVID-19 vaccines increase in Harris County following cash incentive | The Texas Tribune

Wow. You know, this is a consequence of the politicization of a vaccination campaign that never — not ever! — should have devolved into this partisan political game of gotcha!

It’s good, I reckon, that Harris County has enough money to throw around at those willing to receive a life-saving vaccine. I’ll give County Judge Hidalgo credit for taking the lead on this effort.

What’s more, it has produced results, as the Tribune reported, with vaccinations skyrocketing.

It’s just part of what I hope is a trend we will see accelerate as more people realize that the vaccines are effective and, of course, safe. The Food and Drug Administration this week approved the Pfizer vaccine, giving its unqualified go-ahead to anyone who had been  reluctant to get the shot to proceed to their nearest pharmacy or doctor’s office to be inoculated.

President Biden went on TV to declare that era of excuses is over. “Get vaccinated today,” he implored us. Hey, you’re preaching to choir in our house, Mr. President; my bride and I got our shots in February … both of ’em!

Still, I am astounded that some officials are doling out money to lure reluctant folks to do what is right — and what is sane!

— johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, medical news, State news

A rebellion takes hold

2 Comments

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Let’s call it what it appears to be: a schoolhouse rebellion.

Nearly 50 independent school districts in Texas have decided to defy Gov. Greg Abbott’s no-local-measures mandate and declared that their students, faculty and staff will mask up when they enter these educational institutions.

That’s good news, at least it is to me. The even better news is that the state is not going to dig in and force the school districts to abide by Gov. Abbott’s ridiculous — and dangerous — executive order.

It is ridiculous because it flies directly against the traditional Republican political mantra that declares local control is the better way to manage public policy issues.

It is dangerous because situations differ from community to community and for the governor to issue an order prohibiting school districts from requiring masks puts everyone in potentially dire peril of being infected by the COVID-19 virus or the Delta variant that has sprung forth.

You want more good news? The Food and Drug Administration this morning gave full authorization for the Pfizer vaccine to be used to inoculate human beings against the coronavirus.

President Biden has declared that vaccination rates are climbing again.

Yes, there remain the fearmongers out there who continue to spread lies about the vaccines. Hospitals are at or over capacity. Children are getting sick. Fully vaccinated Americans are coming down with the virus. So it’s not all peaches and cream, right?

In Texas, though, there appears to be some semblance of sanity and reason taking root in classrooms throughout the state.

Thank goodness.

local news, medical news, State news

Paris ISD gets creative

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

So help me, I cannot get past relishing the decision up yonder in Paris, Texas, to perform an end-around Gov. Greg Abbott’s order barring local governments from imposing mask-wearing mandates on the people they serve.

It’s simply a stroke of genius!

Paris Independent School District trustees voted to make masks a part of the student dress code. “The Board believes the dress code can be used to mitigate communicable health issues, and therefore has amended the PISD dress code to protect our students and employees,” the district said in a statement after the board ruled.

COVID-19 is spiking all over the damn place. The Delta variant is to blame. Too many children are being affected. Paris ISD, which educates about 4,000 students in North Texas, decided it couldn’t stand still while Abbott fought with other districts over their own masking-up decisions.

NBC News reports: Abbott has sought to portray his stance as protecting the freedoms of Texans. “The path forward relies on personal responsibility — not government mandates,” the governor said earlier this month.

Texas school district makes masks part of dress code to get around Gov. Abbott’s order (nbcnews.com)

Personal responsibility, though, well might get more Texans sick from a disease that could kill them.

Let’s mask up, eh? As for Paris ISD’s creative response to ham-handed authority, I will await other school districts’ decision to follow suit.

medical news

Get vaccinated … dammit!

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am going to implore everyone within shouting distance of this blog to do something that some of you might have been resisting.

You need to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, and against the damn variants that are cropping up.

The Food and Drug Administration has declared that anyone who has been vaccinated fully can get a booster shot eight months after they have received their second vaccine dose. So … my wife and I checked our vaccine cards. We become eligible for the booster in late October; we both got our vaccinations in late February.

We are just two of the 161 million or so Americans who have been vaccinated fully against the virus. Our sons have been vaccinated, as has our daughter-in-law. Our siblings — my sisters and her brothers and their spouses have been vaccinated. Our granddaughter isn’t yet old enough to receive her vaccine; she’ll get one when the FDA gives the go-ahead. Her brothers have been vaccinated, too.

To be sure, we have some knuckleheads in our extended family who have refused to get vaccinated. Most of them are refusing for ridiculous political reasons. A couple of them reportedly have bought into the goofy notions espoused by the QAnon crowd, the stuff about serious body changes if you get a shot … that kind of crap.

I have been a longtime proponent of vaccines. When our sons were young, they got all the vaccines that helped ward off infectious disease. I have little tolerance or patience for those who refuse to get vaccinated. Religious reasons? Sure, I get that. Serious medical concerns and fear of adverse reaction? I understand.

The booster shot is going into this old man’s arm as soon as the calendar allows it. Oh, and I also am going to wear a mask when I am among people I don’t know.

President Biden said several months ago that getting vaccinated is the “patriotic thing to do.” We must do so to protect ourselves and those we love — and even total strangers — against a disease that still is killing too many of us.

State news

Paris ISD swims against the tide

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I have ruminated over the past several days — privately and on this blog — about the political realities in play as school districts defy Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s mandate banning local governments from issuing orders such as mask mandates in this COVID virus era.

The reality is this: School districts that have taken action in defiance generally represent constituencies that lean toward Democratic politicians and away from Republican pols, such as the former POTUS, No. 45.

Then we have Paris, Texas, where the public school board has voted 5-1 to impose mask mandates for students, faculty and staff. Why is that noteworthy? Because Paris sits in a community that voted overwhelmingly for POTUS 45 in the 2020 presidential election.

The Paris school board’s decision to include face masks as part of the students’ dress code was an inspired and creative way to outflank Gov. Abbott’s ridiculous no-mandate mantra.

They are more concerned in the Paris Independent School District about children’s safety and health than about whatever push back they might get from their constituents.

I simply want to offer this: Bravo!