Tag Archives: coronavirus

medical news

People are dying ‘alone’

One of the many tragedies associated with the coronavirus pandemic has been articulated by Mike Barnicle, a newspaper columnist and a cable TV talking head.

He has spoken of meeting individuals who have lost loved ones to the killer disease. One of the unique aspects of the COVID-19 virus is that those who are infected with it cannot have their loved ones nearby as their condition worsens.

Barnicle’s tale told of someone he met in Boston who watched a loved one succumb to the virus “on an I-Pad.” That’s right. The stricken individual was not allowed to die in the presence of his family. They were kept away because the doctors and nurses could not allow them to be exposed to the virus.

Therein lies arguably the singular tragedy of this pandemic, as articulated by a noted journalist.

It is such a sad aspect of this monstrous crisis.

Oh, let us hope and pray that the end of this worldwide pandemic is on its way.

medical news, national news

How can this ‘wartime president’ lead by declining to set example?

I cannot get past Donald Trump’s declaration that he would forgo a health agency’s recommendation to wear a mask while interacting with other human beings.

Think of this. Trump wants to be considered a “wartime president” as the nation fights the coronavirus pandemic. Then the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that Americans should wear masks. Trump’s response? He said the CDC recommendation is “voluntary,” so he won’t follow the agency’s advice.

If he wants us to think of him as a wartime president, shouldn’t he act like one? To my way of thinking, that would entail a president setting the example that others would follow. Yep, that means wearing a mask in public.

Think, too, of how such a gesture might play to critics such as myself. I am, as you know, an avid — and at times admittedly angry — critic of Donald Trump. The sight of Trump wearing a mask while interacting with others would send a positive message to me. It wouldn’t entice me to vote for Trump this November, but it would draw praise from this blog.

My wife and I are following the CDC advice. Given that the president works for us — and that we do not work for him — it makes sense to me that our “employee,” the president, ought to be follow the lead of his “bosses.” I trust you get my drift.

Trump made some lame and phony excuse for not wearing a mask. He said something about the “image” of a president wearing a mask in the Oval Office while greeting another head of state. Well, as former VP Joe Biden once said of the enactment of the Affordable Care Act … big fu**ing deal.

Why not make visitors to the Oval Office wear a mask, too? If Trump is going to declare himself to be a wartime president, then he ought to take charge and act like someone willing to sacrifice in a time of war. And he could demand that others make the same sacrifice.

That’s what real leaders do.

medical news, national news

Nothing from POTUS today? Ah, the silence is so golden!

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Donald Trump didn’t go on the air today to blather on about the “fantastic job” he and his team are doing in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Did you miss him? Neither did I.

The president has spent far too much time standing in front of us yapping and yammering about this and that. He has hogged the microphone away from the medical, military and logistical experts who stand with him on the White House briefing room platform.

There was that remarkable moment earlier this week when a reporter asked a question directly of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease doctor in the world, and Trump wouldn’t let Fauci answer it. The president slammed the door shut on the reporter.

So it has gone, ad nauseum.

It is being said that Trump isn’t helping himself by talking too much. To be candid, I don’t give a rat’s a** about whether he helps himself by stepping away from the microphone.

What interests me more is whether this clown would turn the mic over to experts who have something relevant and important to say. I want to hear from the truth tellers, not from the Liar in Chief.

Accordingly, I don’t begrudge the silence that emanated today from the White House.

religious news

Numbskull preachers need to get a grip

I hate speaking ill of men and women of the cloth … but the religious numbskulls around the country who are defying “stay at home” orders to celebrate Easter need to have their heads examined.

I won’t mention their hearts, because they must think their hearts are in the right place by flinging open their church doors on Easter.

These individuals claim to be trumpeting their “God-given right” to conduct worship services in churches full of parishioners. How does one cope with such nonsense?

They have no right given by the Almighty to put others in jeopardy while we are in the midst of a fight against COVID-19, the strain of coronavirus that has killed tens of thousands of Americans.

Local officials have issued orders that limit gatherings of human beings; they are instructing us to maintain proper “social distance” from each other to stem the rate of infection during this worldwide pandemic.

That hasn’t stemmed the idiocy coming from some of these religious crackpots. They proclaim the First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom allows them to conduct these services, even though health officials issue dire warnings of the consequences of flouting these restrictions.

Well … the First Amendment makes no guarantee of anyone’s right to jeopardize the health — and the lives — of other human beings.

Scripture reminds us as well that we can pray without ceasing anywhere we wish. We do not need to sit in a church pew to celebrate Easter. We are fully able to do that very thing in our living rooms.

Thus, the religious goofballs are off their rocker by insisting that their parishioners must flock to church on Easter.

medical news

The big takeaway from this crisis is …

Make no mistake about it, if there is a singularly positive outcome from the coronavirus pandemic, it well might be the enduring gratitude we all should feel toward those who are risking their lives in the front-line fight against this killer disease.

I refer specifically to the world’s medical personnel, the firefighters and police officers.

Doctors, nurses and various medical technicians are falling ill constantly, 24/7, as they treat patients in hospitals all over the world. Many of them die as a result. Many others are fortunate to recover from the disease. What do they do, how do they respond?

They suit up — don their masks, gloves and rubber suits — and head right back into the fight! That’s what they’re doing.

Communities are making noise already in appreciation for what they’re doing on our behalf. In New York City, the epicenter of the crisis, residents are clamoring each night at 7 to honor the men and women who are thrusting themselves into harm’s way; they stand on street corners, on balconies, in front of shuttered businesses and they bang pots and pans.

It’s the very least we can do to offer an expression of profound gratitude to these folks’ unimaginable bravery.

Let us not ever lose sight of what we are witnessing in real time as the world struggles against this pandemic.

It is awe-inspiring.

economic news

Socialism then; now it’s, um, acceptable

Yesterday’s socialist initiative has become an act of economic genius … in the eyes of many political observers.

I am confused.

Barack Obama became president of the United States in 2009 and went to work immediately to look for ways to rescue an economy in free fall. We were shedding tens of thousands of jobs each month. Unemployment was climbing toward 10 percent. The new president had to act quickly.

He and Congress managed to cobble together a massive bailout program. It helped shore up banks, the auto industry, the airline industry. Congressional Republicans and their friends in conservative media called it the most dangerous lurch toward socialism in American history.

The world was ending. Earth was going to spin off its axis. The sky would fall on us. The world as we knew it would end.

None of that happened. President Obama acted decisively, as did Congress. The loans sent out were paid back with interest. Job growth mounted. Unemployment fell. We began to pay down the federal budget deficit. The economy recovered.

Barack Obama left office in 2017. Donald Trump took over. Trump inherited a robust economy. Job growth continued. Joblessness fell to historic lows.

Then came the coronavirus pandemic that hit early this year.

People started getting infected with a disease. Then citizens began to die. Businesses shut down. Workers got furloughed. Cities, counties and states issued stay at home orders. Our streets fell silent.

The government then had to cobble together another stimulus package. This one totaled $2.2 trillion. The checks are in the mail. Billions went to businesses.

Where, I have to ask, are the accusations of a socialist initiative? Where is the righteous indignation and anger among conservatives that the government is grabbing private industry by the throat?

Remember that this initiative came from a Republican president, was approved by a GOP-run Senate as well as by a Democrat-run House. Some Democrats yammered that the bailout was too friendly to big business and doesn’t do enough for working families. However, it sailed through Congress with a bipartisan approval.

Times have changed, yes? Actually, not as much as some would have us believe. The opposition party in 2009 comprised a lot of fear-mongering demagogues. Today’s opposition resists on vastly different grounds but in the end it signed on to do the right thing.

Very strange.

national news

Do not ‘re-open’ the country on May 1, Mr. POTUS

I am not a doctor, nor do I portray one on TV. Moreover, I don’t pretend to be a medical expert who stands in front of reporters each day in the White House press briefing room.

I am just an American citizen who loves my country beyond measure. Thus, I want to implore the president who masquerades as a medical genius to abandon any thought of “re-opening” the nation by May 1.

To do so likely would put millions of our fellow countrymen and women in dire peril of exposure to the COVID-19 strain of the coronavirus.

How do I know that? I don’t. I am endorsing the view being expressed by medical experts who say that May 1 is far too early for the president to make any such declaration, to say that, “Hey, it’s OK for businesses to resume ‘normal’ activity.”

Our schools in Texas are closed at least until May 4. I would be willing to bet the mortgage that Gov. Greg Abbott won’t allow the public school system to open, that he’ll likely order them closed for the remainder of the academic year. That’s fine with me.

The president, I should add, has no real authority to re-open anything. That power rests farther down on the chain of command, with governors, county officials, mayors and city councils.

The president does have the power of the bully pulpit, which he can use to maximum effectiveness. This president, though, too often uses that power recklessly. Were he to declare that business is open on May 1 would provide a glaring example of recklessness.

This nation needs to test many more of its citizens before we can declare that the coronavirus is being defeated. To date, we have tested about 1 percent of our population. One percent! How can the medical authorities make any determination with such a minuscule sample of our nation’s population? They cannot!

Yes, we hear that the infection rate in some areas is decreasing, as is the death rate of those who have been diagnosed with the disease. That’s welcome news. We all should pray that the trend continues.

The First of May is just three weeks away. That is too soon to lift the restrictions.

No one wants to keep living like this forever. A premature return to the way it was, though, only threatens to lengthen — and possibly worsen — the restrictions we are facing.

Worse than that, it threatens to sicken and kill more Americans.

national news

‘New normal’ will require serious change of at least one habit

Dr. Anthony Fauci said it, so it must be true. He’s our preeminent infectious disease expert and his voice has become a source of reassurance in the midst of some of the confusion being sown by Donald J. Trump.

Regarding the coronavirus pandemic that still is sweeping across the globe, we’re starting to prepare for what’s being called “the new normal” once we get past the health crisis.

One aspect of the new normal, as stated by Dr. Fauci, is that we no longer should shake hands with those we meet. Eek. That means, oh, fist bumps, elbow bumps, locking pinkies?

I am an inveterate hand-shaker. I like shaking hands with strangers. It’s a way to establish a sort of cursory relationship. Dr. Fauci has said that ought to become a relic, something we no longer should do … if we are serious about keeping the coronavirus outbreak from recurring.

I guess we’ll also be keeping some distance from each other. The six-foot rule will stand in perpetuity, yes? I can deal with that more easily than getting rid of my hand-shaking habit.

The “new normal” is beginning to take some form out there. Get ready for it.

local news, Sports news

Pandemic stalls these fans’ enjoyment

I feel fairly confident in presuming that my many friends and acquaintances in Amarillo, Texas, are about to lose their baseball-loving minds these days.

The season of their beloved Amarillo Sod Poodles has been delayed indefinitely while the nation wages war against the coronavirus pandemic.

The Sod Poodles are supposed to be playing hardball by now. They had their home opener planned for next Thursday. They were supposed to open the defense of their Texas League championship. The home opener was slated to allow the team to have a trophy presentation and the team was going to take a bow for winning the AA league championship in their initial season playing ball in Amarillo.

The ceremony ain’t gonna happen … at least not just yet!

The coronavirus requires what’s been called “an abundance of caution.” There’s no way to stuff 7,000 cheering fans safely into Hodgetown, the Sod Poodles’ home ballpark in downtown Amarillo. I’m not sure when Americans will get the all clear from the federal government, or from the state or from cities and counties.

Indeed, there might not even be an “all clear” coming from the government. There could be a “partially clear” or a “conditional clear” issued at some point in the reasonably near future.

As I’ve been doing for some time now, I will continue to root for the Sod Poodles from afar. I hope to attend a game — or more — in nearby Frisco when the Sod Poodles come here to play the Roughriders.

I’ll just have to preach the mantra of patience. As the saying goes: This, too, shall pass.

medical news

‘Quickly forgotten,’ Mr. President? Yeah, good luck with that

Donald John Trump is just rarin’ to get the U.S. reopened for business.

He said this via Twitter to drive home the point:

“Once we OPEN UP OUR GREAT COUNTRY, and it will be sooner rather than later, the horror of the Invisible Enemy, except for those that sadly lost a family member or friend, must be quickly forgotten. Our Economy will BOOM, perhaps like never before!!!”

Quickly forgotten, he said. To be fair, at least the president did acknowledge with a single phrase contained in a single sentence that many Americans will be hurting.

Do you get the feeling the expression aimed at “those that sadly lost a family member or a friend” is a throwaway line, something that he felt he needed to say just to assuage critics of the absence of empathy in the president? That is my takeaway.

The president’s continuing message to a nation reeling with anxiety and tragedy from this pandemic continues to concentrate on the economic impact and the “fantastic job” he believes he and his team are doing to stem the infection.

I keep waiting — and I know it’s futile — for the president to speak exclusively about Americans’ pain. I keep waiting for him to offer words of comfort, an expression that he truly gets it, that he hurts right along with them.

I know it’s not coming. I know that this president is incapable of leading us in this time of deep pain and peril.