Tag Archives: COVID

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

national news

What’s happening to me?

I cannot believe what is happening to me. I find myself actually defending Donald J. Trump, albeit on a limited basis and focused only on a single issue.

The 45th POTUS — the former Imbecile in Chief — is defending vaccines as a way to fend off the scourge of the COVID-19 virus that is still sickening and killing Americans. He took the vaccine in the final days of his single term as president; he has taken the booster shot, too.

Now there’s this conservative anti-vaxxer, Candace Owens, saying Trump is “too old” to know better than to contest the vaccine and the booster.

I am not that far behind Trump in age, so I kinda resent her remark.

Moreover, while I know that Trump has never actually been an anti-vaxxer, he was silent about the efficacy of the vaccines while he served as POTUS. So, for him to say now that he believes in the vaccine is a good thing. I am going to offer a timid golf-clap form of applause for his coming around.

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

Oh, Sarah … shut up!

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Oh, my. Sarah “Barracuda” Palin had been MIA for a while. Then she shows up again to sputter absolute nonsense about the COVID-19 vaccine.

She said she would be vaccinated “over my dead body.” What the hell? I mean, she’s already come down with the virus. I don’t recall if she got sick from it. Frankly, I hope not. I hope she has made a full recovery. I also wish she would keep her trap shut when talking about the vaccine. Indeed, the “over my dead body” statement very well could become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, given that the vast majority of people who are dying from the virus are, um, unvaccinated. Don’t misunderstand me: I do not want that to happen to her; I am just stating what I know to be the truth.

She doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about. The 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee and former half-term Alaska governor is an anti-vaxxer.

She said her kids won’t be vaccinated, either. Doesn’t this dimwit understand she is putting her kids in jeopardy? Well, several of the young Palins are adults now, so they can decide for themselves what to do. My guess is that they’re following Mom down the path of foolishness and recklessness.

I just kind of wish now that Sarah Palin would just slink back into the shadows.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump

Trump gets booed for … being vaccinated? Huh?

Can it really be that Donald J. Trump’s political base is populated by utter morons, people who actually boo their hero when he tells ’em he received a booster shot to fend off the COVID virus?

Yep, looks like it’s so.

Trump ventured to downtown Dallas on Sunday, along with Bill O’Reilly. They staged some sort of rally at the American Airlines Center. The crowd reportedly was fairly sparse. Trump, though, revealed while answering a question from O’Reilly that he received a booster shot in addition to his vaccination.

Many in the crowd booed their hero!

What the … ?

O’Reilly sought to dismiss the boo birds as a small portion of the gathering at the AAC. Still, it makes me wonder about these individuals. Oh, well. They do seem to mirror the mindlessness of their cult leader.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Mask up, America!

Here comes my latest declaration: With the Omicron variant spreading, along with those other COVID-19 variants, I have decided that I will go nowhere without a mask.

We have a bunch of ’em in the console in our truck. They all fit nicely. They all seem to do what they are intended to do, which is protect us from the virus that is infecting, sickening and killing Americans.

They’re shutting down Broadway shows, ordering fans at pro basketball games to wear masks, reopening COVID testing stations. Dang, man … we’re falling back into some sort of pandemic-defense mode.

There’s a sliver of good news to share. It is that the Omicron variant produces symptoms that appear to be milder than the Delta variant. That’s good, except that Omicron is more contagious; it spreads more easily.

I feel as though we have dodged thousands of bullets so far. We are vaccinated fully, including the booster shot. Our immediate family is taking precautions, too, and they have worked. Another member of my family got quite sick nearly a year ago from the COVID virus, but she’s bounced back.

With this Omicron mess getting messier, I intend now to ensure that I mask up when I enter indoor settings full of people I do not know, nor know their vaccination status.

One more point: I intend to follow every single government “mandate” to the letter.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

‘No’ on special session!

How many ways do I have to say the same thing? Which is that the COVID-19 vaccine is saving lives, it is preventing infections from the deadly virus and that government entities are within their right to order vaccines for employees and for the public who the government is charged to protect.

Accordingly, I do not want Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to call a fourth special legislative session to enact a statewide ban on future COVID vaccine requirements.

The Texas Tribune reports that a growing number of Texas Legislature Republicans want Abbott to call a special session. They want Gov. Abbott to ask the Legislature to approve a ban on businesses and local governments issuing vaccine mandates.

The Tribune reports: “We know legislators are tired and nobody wants an extended special session,” Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi said in an interview Monday, pointing to states such as Tennessee and Florida that recently passed legislation on vaccine mandates on short timelines.

“While I am happy to be home after three special sessions in Austin,” GOP state Rep. Briscoe Cain wrote, “I would happily return to Austin if called upon to protect the rights of my fellow Texans.”

How about protecting the lives of your “fellow Texans,” Rep. Cain? A state-mandated ban on local COVID restrictions puts your “fellow Texans” in jeopardy.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Not your call, Okie National Guard

Let’s look briefly at an astonishing defiance of the commander in chief, OK?

The Oklahoma National Guard command has declared that its soldiers do not have to adhere to Defense Department requirements for vaccination against the COVID-19 virus.

This is a seriously wrong-headed call.

The National Guard is part of the U.S. military apparatus. Thus, it is under the command of — here it comes — the commander in chief, the president of the United States of America. The current commander in chief, President Biden, has declared that members of the military are required to be vaccinated against the virus, unless they have a valid military of religious exemption.

The commander in chief, therefore, has issued a lawful order. Those who serve the commander in chief are obligated under military law to obey such orders or else face the consequences.

The Oklahoma National Guard, accordingly, is seeking to disobey that lawful order.

It won’t work.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Sports news

Aaron Rodgers’s white lie still stings

We won’t call Aaron Rodgers’s deception about being “immunized” instead of vaccinated against the COVID 19 virus a “little white lie.”

It goes beyond little white lie status. Let’s just call it a lie.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback is continuing to pay the price in deserved recrimination for his refusal to tell the truth — to the public — about whether he had taken the vaccine. He had taken instead some sort of cocktail of drugs that included Ivermectin, the medicine prescribed for livestock as a de-worming agent. Yeah, yeah … I get that he was prescribed by a doctor who reportedly gave him some sort of “human form” of the agent that supposedly works against the virus.

He didn’t say that. All he said was that he is “immunized.”

My beef with Rodgers — who until now I had grown to admire as a Hall of Fame-quality QB — is that his moronic reaction to the blowback suggests he doesn’t get it. He won’t take ownership of the mistake he made in lying about his vaccination status.

Rodgers now becomes what politicians like to refer to as a “distraction.” His teammates are distracted by the furor over this matter. So are the fans and the media.

This damn story won’t go away. I am not sure it should go away until Rodgers’s comes clean and owns the controversy he has created.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Just when you think you know someone …

… They toss a curve ball at you.

Here’s a case in point. A friend of ours informed me this week that she has avoided being vaccinated against the killer COVID 19 virus. Why? Because two members of her family — who happen to be medical professionals — have expressed “concern” about the vaccines being offered.

Hmm. I asked: What are the concerns? My friend said she didn’t know the particulars, just that her family members/medical pros said they didn’t know all there is to know about them.

So she has refused to take the vaccine.

OK. I then informed her that my bride and I have been fully vaccinated. We have taken the booster shots, too. We have zero qualms about the vaccines being developed by the Big Pharma firms.

I will admit to being taken aback by my friend’s reluctance. She and her husband both have been stricken with the virus. They got ill, but not terribly so. They recovered. They are now functioning fully, getting out and doing whatever it is they do.

I just have decided I am going to keep my distance for the foreseeable future. Maybe beyond.

Meanwhile, I will continue to trust the medical experts who tell us the vaccines are working and that any spikes in COVID cases involve those who have not been vaccinated against the virus.

I also will pray for our friends’ good health.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com