Pandemic Day 365. What Has One Year Taught Us?

A lot and not enough.

We knew a pandemic was inevitable, yet were unprepared. We know many things are inevitable yet prefer to ignore them.

We are now over 530,000 official deaths and the real toll, of course, is much higher. Many have died of COVID but no autopsy was performed. Also, we are experiencing secondary deaths from all the delayed physical check ups and procedures that were put off. The final toll directly and indirectly from COVID-19 will be over 1 million fatalities.

I just looked at my first post on Day 1. I was wrong about a few things: the ripple effect in the supply chain wasn’t very severe. Based on the numbers at that early time, I estimated an outside high chance of close to a million dead. I would revise that number done in the weeks ahead, but I was constantly attacked by people who said I was the man who cried wolf. But the wolf ate more people than any of the positive “just like the flu” fools predicted.

There will be another pandemic and it will be worse. Within the next decade. By the way, COVID will not go away. We will have to get vaccinated yearly for it and the variants from here on out, much like the flu.

We’ve learned that the government can act swiftly and effectively. Unfortunately, for half a million Americans, that action came too late as we were inundated with lies. And we are still are awash in them. I still have people lashing out about masks and vaccines. A large segment of our population, rather than awakening in the face of such a death toll, has withdrawn further into an echo chamber where they repeat what certain people say and then those certain people say “Well, people are saying”. Which is insane.

We are not out of the woods. A lot of people aren’t going to get vaccinated. Which means we will have more waves of deaths. We also don’t know the long-term effects for those who have had COVID-19 and ‘recovered’.

I find the anti-mask crowd particularly vexing. They liken it to other things, but the closest I can come up with is drunk driving. You are not only affecting yourself; you are a threat to others. I plan on wearing a mask for a long time. I will always wear a mask when traveling on a flight from here on out.

Texas went black even though lots of people knew there was a problem. No one did anything. Those who want to deregulate seem to ignore that fact that regulations have a purpose and were often only put in place after good people fought hard for them for the greater good. Did you know that in Texas a chemical storage site does not have to disclose, even to the local first responders who’d have to deal with an accident, what is stored there? Good deal, right?

There will be more storms like those that hit Texas. Are you ready? You are going to see weather extremes wherever you live. Are you ready? At the very least do you have the four basics of survival in your house? Prepared for an extended power outage? Have a grab-n-go bag? Have your car prepared for trouble?

Do you have the right mindset for the future? A can-do, American attitude, combined with knowledge and preparation?