Tag Archives: pandemic

local news, medical news

Plano … you had a problem

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

We were alarmed Thursday night when we heard the news about a COVID vaccine site that had run into some, um, difficulty.

My wife was scheduled to report at that very site at John Clark Stadium in Plano, Texas, the next day to receive the first of two COVID vaccine doses. We held our breath this morning as we set out for her rendezvous with immunity from the killer pandemic virus.

We arrived 25 minutes after leaving our house in Princeton.

Then something quite cool happened. We drove Big Jake, our 3/4-ton pickup, into line. We inched forward. We met with a young attendant who took down some information from my bride.

We then drove to another line. We waited a few more minutes. Then we met a second COVID vaccine staffer, who took some more info from her.

Then came the final stop. My wife chatted for a moment with the third attendant, answered a few medical questions.

Then she got the shot. Ba-da-boom … she was done.

I checked the clock. Finished in less than an hour.

News reports the previous evening told us about overbooking at that site because of no-shows and cancellations. We heard about agonizing waits in line, with residents told there were no vaccine doses left; they were turned away.

We didn’t have any particular expectation of similar problems today, only a nagging fear that they might present themselves to my wife.

They did not. What’s more, and this is a rather amazing thing to report, the staff working on the parking lot at Clark Stadium could not have been more courteous, friendly and professional. The personal demeanor actually made the experience almost enjoyable.

She got the Pfizer vaccine, which means she returns in three weeks for the second dose. Now that we know what to expect, there will be far less dread waiting for the end of this vaccine protocol.

I just want to offer a word of thanks and appreciation to some folks who are under a lot of pressure to serve an anxious community.

local news, medical news

Not so fast on reopening!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

My friends and former neighbors in Amarillo, Texas, might be facing a relapse, a return to the conditions that caused plenty of alarm in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

City and county officials are planning to allow the reopening of bars, restaurants and other public gathering places. Why? Because hospitalization rates are plummeting.

I would like to offer a word of caution: Don’t do it! At least not just yet!

KFDA News Channel 10 reports: The city has been under the 15% hospitalization rate threshold for six days now. If the city remains under that rate for one more day, Amarillo will no longer be considered an area of high hospitalization. City Manager Jared Miller said bars in Potter and Randall counties may reopen at 50% percent capacity if the hospitalization rate remains under 15% as of 4:00 p.m. today.

Amarillo businesses to reopen, expand capacity thanks to low hospitalization rates (newschannel10.com)

Here’s my concern: What happens if hospitalization and infections spike again in Amarillo? Does the city close the place down once more?

Amarillo has been getting a good bit of media love in recent days over the vaccination rate it has been providing. The city ranks at or near the top of all American cities in the inoculation rate it is delivering to residents. I applaud the city for its response to the pandemic.

My concern from my perch 350 miles away is that the city might be getting a bit too cavalier as it seeks to reopen its business community.

The pandemic ain’t over! There might be a whole lot more suffering to come. Indeed, scientists and physicians are warning that the worst has yet to arrive.

I want all of our cities to reopen. I just don’t want to rush it.

“We need everyone to continue doing what we’re doing that’s effecting our numbers in such a positive ways,” said Mayor Ginger Nelson. “I want to be very clear this morning that we can’t ease up. We’re not at the finish line yet.”

Be very, very careful.

medical news

Frustration? Yes, but there’s an end to it

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I feel the need to offer a note of frustration in dealing with obtaining a vaccine shot to fend off the COVID-19 virus.

We are on different inoculation tracks in our house. I received my first vaccine shot from the North Texas Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Dallas; I’ll get my second shot in a few days.

My wife is getting her first vaccine dose later this week. She is obtaining hers through one of Collin County’s vaccination “hubs,” at John Carter Stadium in Plano, Texas. She’ll be there, get her shot and then we’ll return home.

My frustration dealt with trying to talk to a living, breathing human being at the Collin County Health Department. I couldn’t connect with a living person as I sought to clarify an issue that needed immediate attention.

We got two phone calls today from Collin County. The first one dealt with my appointment at Carter Stadium; we had registered with the county wait list and today our names came up. I sought to call the county back to tell someone that I didn’t need to report for my vaccine; the Department of Veterans Affairs has me covered. I couldn’t find anyone with whom I could clarify the issue.

The second call came about 30 minutes later. The recorded voice told me that my wife had been scheduled at the stadium on the same day I was supposed to report. Fine. Good deal. She’s in!

I am well aware that our health agencies are facing intense pressure to answer questions from anxious Americans. I tend to get hyper-anxious when I cannot obtain answers in a timely, efficient fashion. I am not leveling blame at anyone. I merely am expressing a level of frustration linked directly to the potential consequence of something slipping through the cracks.

We’re dealing straight on with a virus that has killed far north of 400,000 Americans. My most sincere aim is to get answers quickly from fellow human beings who get paid to provide them.

There. Rant over. We’re taking one step at a time toward protecting ourselves from this killer. I believe the frustration will subside.

national news

Compromise anyone?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Let’s see how this plays out.

President Biden wants Congress to approve a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill that kicks out more money for families and helps educators, while speeding up the vaccinations aimed at killing the pandemic.

Congressional Republicans want a $618 billion package that is more “targeted” for specific needs.

Here’s a thought. Why not meet in the middle? Congress could approve a $1.2 trillion package, which is just about the mid point between the president’s pitch and the counter offer from the GOP.

Isn’t that what effective legislation is all about? Compromise, anyone?

medical news

Stay focused on COVID

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

One of the many — seemingly countless — blessings of the new presidential administration is its telling us the truth daily about the pandemic that is still killing too many Americans.

President Biden is letting the scientific team he has assembled talk to us about the COVID crisis; he is staying out of the way and out of the limelight.

We aren’t hearing happy talk from the White House about how we have the virus “under control,” nor are we hearing from the president how we should employ miracle cures, such as injecting household cleaners into our bodies.

I keep hearing snippets of good news, about how the hospitalization rate is showing a modest, but steady decline. The virus continues to sicken too many of us; it is killing too many of us as well.

We are hearing the truth, finally, from the people in charge about how this fight against the pandemic is proceeding. I will listen to the scientists and just like with his predecessor, I will effectively disregard any political diagnosis from President Biden about the status of that conflict.

national news

No more POTUS spin in briefing room

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden made a hefty number of promises while campaigning for the office he won.

One of them involved his commitment to listening to the “science” as it regards the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

So … with that he said he wouldn’t step to the White House briefing room podium and try to speak on issues about which he knows nothing. The pandemic virus continues to rage across the nation. Joe Biden isn’t being seen at the briefing room rostrum talking about the virus, thinking out loud about possible “cures,” such as whether one could inject or ingest cleaning fluid that would wipe out the virus just like that.

Yes, until Jan. 20, we had a president who did that. He is now gone from office. President Biden is letting the scientists and the medical doctors speak on the details of the fight that continues.

I know we shouldn’t relish what should be taken as normal behavior by a president. It is difficult to resist commenting on it given the incessant pattern of lies and misstatements that came from President Biden’s immediate predecessor.

Indeed, it wasn’t as if I could take anything that Donald Trump ever told me seriously. I grew early in his term to disbelieve every single statement that he sputtered out.

The new president isn’t likely to create that credibility misery by saying things out loud that he has no business saying. President Biden will let the scientists speak about matters they studied. They are the folks with knowledge to pass on what they know to be true.

local news

COVID vaccine awaits

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Somewhere on a tray full of little medicine bottles there is a dose of medicine with my name on it.

I’ll find it Friday. It sits in the Department of Veterans Affairs medical complex in south Dallas. I will arrive Friday afternoon to receive the first of two doses of vaccine aimed at preventing me from contracting a disease that has killed more than 400,000 Americans … and could have taken the life of someone with whom I am quite close.

I had received a recorded phone call Wednesday evening. The VA automated voice told me to call a phone number to make an appointment for the vaccine. I did as I was instructed today.

My wife and I have been on a Collin County wait list. I decided to take the VA up on its offer for a vaccine. My wife is still on the list but we remain hopeful that the county will call soon to let her know that her name has been called and she, too, can be protected against the COVID pandemic virus.

I feel the need to speak kindly of the Department of Veterans Affairs. I enrolled in the VA program in Amarillo about six or seven years ago. The care I received at the Thomas Creek Medical Center in Amarillo was exemplary. We moved from the Panhandle to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in 2018 and I transferred my VA care to the Sam Rayburn Medical Center in Bonham. My care continues to be stellar.

I say this because the VA has been panned by some in recent years. I remember, of course, the scandal that rocked the agency during the Obama administration, with veterans dying while awaiting medical attention that required urgent response. We don’t hear of such tragedy these days.

For me, the issue has centered on routine care. I have been fortunate in that I enjoy relatively good health. I have encountered no medical emergencies. I rely on the VA to be my go-to source for medical care.

So, with that I want to declare this small victory in the fight against the pandemic. We still intend to follow the prevention protocols to the letter. This is no time to let up.

local news

Some communities respond beautifully to vaccine effort

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Good news needs sharing, so I’ll do it here.

I keep seeing social media posts from friends in the Texas Panhandle who proclaim they have received both of their COVID-19 vaccine shots. They all live in Amarillo, where we lived for more than two decades before moving to the Metroplex in 2018.

It strikes me that Amarillo has earned the applause it is getting over the way it has handled the vaccine response protocol with which it has been forced to operate.

Amarillo reportedly is No. 1 in the nation in the rate of vaccines. Collin County, where we now live? Not so good, although I understand it is kicking into a higher gear with a new “mega” vaccine center opening up in Plano. My wife and I are on a waiting list. We hope to get called soon by Collin County’s health department.

This brief post is intended to toss some praise at Amarillo for doing a bang-up job in getting its residents inoculated against a virus that has infected a large number of my friends, former colleagues and former news sources. It has taken the lives of many fine individuals who made Amarillo and the Panhandle a special and vibrant place.

Have we turned the corner as a nation? Probably not just yet. I keep hearing that we might be starting the long ride out of the deep, dark woods with this killer virus. More misery lies ahead.

However, I am heartened beyond measure by the good news I am hearing from my old haunts. I enjoy learning about the hurdles my friends are clearing as they continue their own struggle against the virus that continues to haunt us all.

medical news

Biden moves quickly on pandemic fight

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden is wasting no time proving he means what he says about pulling out all the stops in fighting the killer pandemic.

The president today ordered 200 million more doses of the vaccine that is expected to help eradicate the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

This, dear friends, is music to my pointy ears.

Now, a bit of full disclosure.

A very close and dear member of my family has just been released from the hospital, where she spent four weeks, most of the time hooked up to a respirator. She now is resting at home with her husband and her golden Labrador retriever.

This is my way of telling you that this disease cuts me close to the quick and I am not going to relent one iota in following the recommended measures to maintain my own health, along with the health of our beloved family members.

President Biden said during his inaugural speech that we should wear masks and do all the things we need to do out of love for our country. I love my country, Mr. President! I hear you, sir!

I also want you to ensure the nation that you do not let up — not at all, not one bit! — in maintaining our national resolve to rid us all of this killer virus.

The death count passed the “horrific” status long ago. It is climbing as I write these words. It came too damn close to claiming someone who is very special to me.

Two hundred million more doses on the way? Yes! Bring more … many more!

medical news

Call it a ‘false positive’

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It’s a form of “false positive” news about the pandemic.

What we hear this morning is that infection/hospitalization rates are leveling off, that they now are at pre-Thanksgiving levels. Is that good news? Sure it is. At least for today it is.

What’s more, we hear about vaccination rates accelerating. Twenty million Americans have received at least the first dose of vaccine. That, too, is encouraging.

Tomorrow is another day. Next week is another week. Which means that we intend to continue doing what we need to do to stay healthy.

It’s good to remind everyone that this kind of false positive news is no signal to let up, no time to back off.

I take only a small measure of relief to hear the news about infection and hospitalization rates. We are keeping our masks within arm’s reach at all times.