Tag Archives: pandemic

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Wait for pandemic to ease

I want to offer a bit of unsolicited — and possibly unwanted — advice to those who worry about President Joe Biden’s dismal poll ratings.

Just be patient and wait for the coronavirus pandemic to loosen its grip on the national psyche.

I don’t have any solid evidence of this, but my strong hunch is that Americans have grown most weary of the constant bombardment of news about the pandemic and they — meaning we, in our family — are waiting anxiously for tangible relief from the effects of the disease.

The constant flood of frightening news surely has an impact on our collective state of mind and our emotional stability. It surely must translate to our feelings about how our national government is doing in its pledge to protect our health, welfare and our pursuit of happiness.

President Biden promised we would declare our “independence” from the virus by the Fourth of July 2021. It didn’t happen. Obviously! Many Americans remember what the president said then and are holding it against him that he was unable to deliver on that pledge. It’s not fair. It’s just the way it is.

Our government’s initial response in early 2020 was horrendous. If we take cold, hard look at what we did or didn’t do then, we can presume correctly that President Biden inherited a mess and has sought to straighten it out. He hasn’t done nearly as well as many of us hoped he would.

Now he is paying the political price.

So, the future could hold a critical key to Joe Biden’s political survival. If the pandemic starts to recede — and soon! — then I have good reason to believe we could witness a historic revival in the president’s standing among American voters.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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News gets tiresome

My name is John and I am a news-a-holic. With that introduction, I am declaring a certain addiction I have to the consumption of information about my world. I cannot help myself. It is who I am.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I want to declare my news fatigue over the reporting of the COVID-19 pandemic, the coronavirus crisis and all the assorted variants of the disease that have sprung up around the world.

They have exploded in India, South Africa and have traveled around the world in — snap! — just like that. The disease and its variants have consumed broadcast, cable and streaming networks, not to mention the printed pages of newspapers, magazines and assorted journals.

I cannot quite put my arms around this story. I haven’t yet grown tired of the congressional hearings examining the 1/6 insurrection, which I consider to be an existential threat to the very government I and others cherish.

The pandemic coverage is becoming tiresome.

I say that knowing that members of my family have contracted the disease. One family member was in serious condition in a hospital for a month; we could have lost her. Several friends of mine have died from the disease. I have skin in this game.

However, I am weary of hearing so much about the disease. Yes, some of the news of the past few days has been heartening to some extent, with reports of cases diminishing and projections from health experts that we might be able to live with the disease the way we live with, say, the flu or the common cold.

I will continue to be an ardent consumer of news. I won’t apologize for that addiction. Nor will I say I’m sorry about growing weary of the bombardment about the pandemic.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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SCOTUS infected by animus, too?

What a revoltin’ development this is turning out to be. The U.S. Supreme Court’s two wings — the liberals and the conservatives — are at each other’s throats in the same way libs and cons are fighting in Congress and with the White House.

What’s more, we hear now that one of the court’s conservative justices, Neil Gorsuch, refuses to don a mask during court members’ meetings, despite the request issued by Chief Justice John Roberts, who wants to show respect for Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who refuses to attend the hearings because of her diabetes.

You see, Sotomayor’s medical condition makes her susceptible to the COVID-19 virus. That doesn’t seem to bother Gorsuch.

Oh, then there’s this: Gorsuch is among the court’s conservative members; Sotomayor is one of the court liberals.

This is astonishing. What kind of pompous ass would behave in the manner that Gorsuch is behaving by refusing to mask up to help keep the virus away from one of his colleagues? Furthermore, why cannot the chief justice issue an order to all the justices to mask up in order for them to attend the weekly court conferences?

Neil Gorsuch defied a request from Chief Justice John Roberts to wear a mask out of respect for Sonia Sotomayor, a report says (msn.com)

We’re still in the middle of a killer pandemic, man! It is not an unreasonable thing for Chief Justice Roberts to insist that his fellow justices observe the protocols established by medical professionals to reduce the infection risk.

As for the animosity, media reports indicate that the court’s two wings are getting increasingly testy with each other as they grapple over how to decide critical court cases. With the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision hanging in the balance, for example, the court’s liberal wing is becoming alarmed — reportedly — over the prospect of the conservative court majority overturning or severely limiting a woman’s right to end a pregnancy.

I am alarmed at what is happening to our government.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Get the vaccine, Novak!

Novak Djokovic has to suck it up and get the shot that will prevent him from the embarrassment he has just suffered at the hands of the Australian government.

The Aussies kicked the world’s No. 1 tennis player out of the country because he refused to follow the nation’s strict protocols it has employed to defend itself against the killer coronavirus.

Djokovic is seeking to win his 21st major tennis title. He has won the Australian Open nine times and thought — I am going to presume — that he should win his 10th and then proclaim himself to be the greatest of all time.

Except that Australia invoked a no-vaccine no-entry policy for anyone. That means, well … anyone! That includes you, Novak! He won’t compete this year or perhaps for the next three years under the Australians’ deportation policy.

I don’t wish him ill. I want him to get vaccinated. I am assuming he has some reason for refusing to be inoculated against the disease. Whatever it is, he perhaps ought to set those reasons aside if he wants to continue his Grand Slam quest.

France has a similar policy to Australia; so does the United Kingdom; and the United States restricts entry of all foreign nationals who aren’t vaccinated. All those countries host the other three major championships.

Get on board, Novak. Or else your wait for making history might fall victim to Father Time.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Sports news

Give it up, Novak!

Maybe I’m just slow on the uptake. Perhaps I am not studying this issue as closely as I should before popping off.

Novak Djokovic, the best men’s tennis player on Earth, should just give up his quest for a 21st major championship and go home rather than defying Australia, the host country of the Australian Open that — by the way — has imposed strict protocols for entering the nation in this pandemic age with which we’re all coping.

Djokovic is not vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Moreover, he lied about where he was and what he did and with whom he did it. Australia has been in virtual lockdown for more than a year and has imposed strict entry requirements as the nation seeks to rid itself of the virus that is still killing people around the world.

What in the world gives Djokovic any additional latitude to enter the country and then compete against fellow tennis pros? Don’t tell me it has anything to do with his standing as the No. 1 men’s player in the world or that his next major championship would break the record held by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

I think Martina Navratilova, the former No. 1 women’s player in the world, has it right: It’s not worth it to the game, or the host country for Djokovic to keep fighting this issue. “Just suck it up and go home,” Navratilova said.

Yep. Go home, Novak. You’ve broken the rules and lied to the world.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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

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Paul ‘kindles the crazies’

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci have become enemies. Whether their status reaches “mortal enemy” status remains to be determined, but something tells me they aren’t far from reaching that perilous state in their hostile relationship.

Fauci appeared today before a Senate committee that includes the Republican Paul as one of its members. He accused Fauci of lying about whether the COVID-19 virus had its origins in a lab in China. Fauci fought back.

According to NBC News: “What happens when he gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue, is that all of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there, and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family, and my children, with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me,” said Fauci during the Senate hearing.

Fauci says Sen. Paul ‘s attacks ‘kindle the crazies’ who have threatened his life (msn.com)

And so it goes. Paul, who also is a physician when he isn’t stirring up the GOP nut jobs out there, will continue to harangue the good doctor for as long as he is able.

To be candid, I will stand with Fauci. My goodness, he is the nation’s pre-eminent infectious disease expert. He knows a lot more about this stuff than virtually anyone else, and that includes Sen. Rand Paul. So, for Paul to question the credibility of a man who took an oath years ago to “first, do no harm” is laughable on its face.

To put a fine point on it, Rand Paul just pi**es me off.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Twitter acts correctly in banning fear-mongering liar

Marjorie Taylor Greene can yap and yammer until she runs out of breath.

Twitter acted correctly when it banned her personal access to the social medium permanently. The company’s reason? Greene, a Republican congresswoman serving her first term from Georgia, is peddling lies and dangerous misinformation about the COVID-19 virus that is still killing Americans.

Yes, it is going to prompt a debate about whether Twitter is violating Greene’s First Amendment right to free speech. It isn’t. You see, it has long been established that the constitutional guarantee does not allow anyone to yell “fire!” in a crowded theater, which is the equivalent of what Greene has been doing by pushing out the lies regarding the COVID virus and the vaccines developed to rid us of the virus’s effects.

Remember that Greene was elected in 2020 to the U.S. House of Representatives and promptly equated mask and vaccine mandates to what Jews endured during the Holocaust. House Republican leaders had the good sense — finally! — to strip her of committee assignments.

She continues to bloviate, though. Twitter, a private company, said it has heard enough from the QAnon queen of the House.

I agree with what the social media firm has done.

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