Category: pandemic

Random thoughts on life in the now

Altering their path

face maskIn the now, I have three homemade masks that I rotate. I had preferred to pick a color that would make me look less sinister to the general population than the dark brown one. Unfortunately, it was the one that fits me best.

This is a function of the fact that, apparently, I have a big head. No, I don’t mean I’m conceited. I mean my pate is large.

I first realized this as a kid when caps were often tight. Then when I graduated from high school, I was told my cap size was 7 7/8, which I gather is unusual. My cap was actually pinned into place. Then when I had to take it off for the national anthem, I couldn’t really get it back on.

I venture out infrequently enough that I forget to put on the mask until I’m on the front porch and then lock the door. And I need the mask to protect me from the folks who neither physically distance or wear their own masks. The worse are the runners, who not only don’t wear masks but just CANNOT alter their path for any reason.

The very few times I’ve gone into a building since mid-March was into a convenience store. It REALLY needed arrows on the floor because the queue to the counter was in the same direction as the exit.

The one thing I HATE waiting for? People buying lottery tickets. It’s not that I oppose folks wasting their money on them. It’s that they spend a lot of time speaking a language I simply do not understand. “Box” something or other, and the purchase seems to take forever, even pre-COVID.

Zooming

My wife said recently that she was going to a Zoom meeting for school. In fact, it was a WebEx webinar. She unnecessarily apologized for her imprecision. I’m fascinated that Zoom has become the genericized term for all of those electronic meetups such as Google Hangout. The newer technology may have filled the linguistic slot that the much older technology Skype used to hold.

As a big advocate of mass transportation, it’s weird to note that I haven’t been on a Capital District Transportation Authority bus since Thursday, March 12. This is true even though one now enters the rear of the vehicle. When I had to get bloodwork, we took the car.

Like many people, I’m having vivid dreams. They’re not usually nightmarish. Sometimes they’re so intense, I’m convinced for several minutes afterward that the events actually took place.

Risk in the midst of a pandemic

Risk AssessmentThere is a cost/benefit analysis in opening up the country in the midst of a pandemic. Donald Trump (R-now of FL) and Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) both acknowledge it. We’re dealing with a risk assessment. The more people go out, the greater the risk. So the logical person would be engaged in what is known as risk mitigation.

But because the people in the United States seem to live in different realities, this has become very difficult. As an editorial in Axios noted: “Far from being the unifying force other catastrophes have been, the COVID-19 pandemic is tearing a divided America — and world — further apart.”

Former President George W. Bush released a video urging national unity in fighting this coronavirus pandemic. “Let us remember how small our differences are in the face of this shared threat… We rise or fall together, and we are determined to rise.” While I personally applauded the effort of someone I never voted for, it wasn’t universally appreciated. The tweeter-in-chief, for instance, whined that W should have spoken up to defend him during the impeachment event.

Mask averse

Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) has been a reasonable voice in this discussion. He has recommended masks, but won’t require them because he says it goes too far for his citizenry. Also in Ohio, a lawmaker refuses to wear a mask because God?

Stillwater, OK rescinded its mask requirement because of the pushback. And a restaurant in Texas FORBIDS masks being worn by their employees.

I understand the tension between being safe and going back to normal, between complete lockdown and or doing nothing at all. Perhaps the restrictions have made people crazy. In what civilized society does someone wipe his nose on an employee’s shirt? Or push someone into a fountain? Or shoot someone in the head? The victims’ crimes? Asking people to engage in physical distancing behavior such as wearing a mask! A couple of teenage employees were shot because the McDonald’s dining room was closed. We’re in screwed-up territory. And we’re screwing ourselves.

I had foolishly, it appears, believed that when people went out, they would engage in appropriate social distancing and take reasonable precautions. Pictures of crowded beaches belie that theory. Polling suggests that many people rejected the number of the sick and the dead, including a significant one. They certainly dismiss as untrue projections a month out. Perhaps, as a result, anywhere between a sixth and one-third of the populace are already deciding not to get a vaccine when it becomes available.

Like it’s 2016

The Boston Globe reports that it’s memes, text chains, and online conspiracies that have fueled coronavirus protesters and discord. This is similar to what took place in 2016. “Only this time, the online manipulation campaigns… could be deadly.”

We can have disagreements about what’s the appropriate course of action. My friend David Brickman makes a modest proposal about New York’s reopening. “Where will art museums and galleries fit into this plan?” He thinks they should be among the first businesses to reopen, in part because many small museums or galleries could easily maintain social distancing protocols.

But these are not just differences of opinion I’m seeing in America. It’s nearly civil war at a time when we should have a common enemy, COVID-19. We’ll see very soon how the virus is winning, and we’re all losing.

More COVID Linkage

CDC Guidance for Reopening Is Deep-Sixed by the White House.

More Cases Among Viewers Of Fox News Host Who Downplayed Pandemic.

Not An Emergency Once He Found Out Who Was Dying.

How He Left the Country Dangerously Unprepared.

To understand the danger of outbreaks in meatpacking plants, look at the industry’s history.

Does Anyone Still Want to Be a Doctor?

A Guide to Reading Facial Expressions Behind Protective Masks.

‘Sadness’ and Disbelief From a World Missing American Leadership.

How to Avoid Burnout in the Middle of a Pandemic.

7 Ways Travel Will Change for the Better in a Post-Pandemic World

Read NOTES FROM THE PANDEMIC.

Plandemic: one of those Internet things

Can’t I just ignore it?

techniques of science denial
From a Creative Commons license
Recently, I repeatedly kept seeing a reference to a video called Plandemic. I have not viewed it. Mostly, the message is “See it before THEY take it down again.” The video has reached cult status. It’s like the outlaws in the Wild West. Or the gangsters like Bonnie and Clyde in the 1920s and 1930s America. Plandemic has achieved, it seems, folk hero status.

So much so that Forbes has posted a piece by Tara Haelle called “Why It’s Important To Push Back On ‘Plandemic’—And How To Do It.”

Plandemic interviews a scientist who was appropriately discredited for scientific misconduct and fraud. [Judy Mikovits] is a known, established anti-vaccine advocate (despite her denial in the film), and she presents a long list of unsupported statements that involve COVID-19, various vaccines, HIV/AIDS, Anthony Fauci, pharmaceutical company collusion and other elements of an elaborate, long-running cover-up. It’s a doozy, checking nearly every box in the long list of conspiracy theories and disinformation circulating about the coronavirus.

Politifact fact-checked eight of Mikovits’ most misleading claims in the film. It’s one of several links debunking the video in the Forbes piece.

Ubitquitous

Forbes asks: “Why is this video suddenly everywhere? Why are so many drawn to it?” And answers it:

First, it taps into people’s uncertainty, anxiety, and need for answers—common reasons anyone is attracted to a conspiracy theory. Second, it is packaged very professionally and uses common conventions people already associate with factual documentaries. Third, it successfully exploits ancient but extremely effective methods of persuasion.

Oh, and why is it being removed? YouTube keeps taking it down because it violates community guidelines for false and misleading information.

Someone named ZDoggMD reacts to the “crazy” viral video. He says, “Don’t waste your time watching it. Don’t waste your time sharing it. Don’t waste your time talking about it.”

Forbes takes a different tactic: “Why should I bother saying anything at all? Can’t I just ignore it?”

Conspiracy theories like those in this video are actively, directly harmful, and dangerous. They can influence people’s behavior in ways that harm those people and public health—including you personally—in general. We can’t afford to let these ideas run unchecked.

If you don’t push back on them, even to those you love or don’t want to upset, you’re enabling them. You’re allowing people to spew harmful, dangerous nonsense that kills people and demoralizes the millions of health care providers trying to save lives.

And the writer has some tips on how to debunk, ideally without alienating the people. She points to the Atlantic article by Liz Neeley, How to Talk About the Coronavirus.

See also, from Politifact: A documentary full of false conspiracy theories about the coronavirus.

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