My Less Than Humble Opinion

Is President Trump Color Blind?

Brian Dellar, Staff Writer
August 6, 2020

President Trump’s bizarre attitude regarding the spread of the infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 ) may be a vision problem. He may think the color red on maps showing the spread of the virus represents voters who support him and his reelection.

These maps show the parts of the country that are experiencing varying levels of coronavirus infection.

These maps show Which states that have had Republican tendencies in this century and/or went to Donald Trump in 2016.

It is no secret that the president has trouble with the written word when it exceeds 280 characters. He is known to prefer getting his briefings orally … preferably with lots of pictures.

President Trump may believe that the “spread of virus” charts are “political charts” showing that most of the country supports him and his policies!

This is not too surprising. President Trump believes that it is necessary to brag about passing a test that has no other purpose than to prove that one is not suffering from dementia. The need to take such a test is not something most people would mention much less brag about. Remembering a series of 5 words is not unusual. By now, most who have seen a few repetitions of the President’s Fox News interview can recite “Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV”.

The nation can be happy that the President has not lost his mental faculties, but many may question the effectiveness of those faculties.

 

Only YOU Can Fight …

Nadine Hetherin, Science Editor
August 14, 2020

Smokey the Bear has often told us “Remember, Only You can fight Forrest Fires”. The same is true of COVID-19 and the devastation it creates in those infected. Only You, and I, and Everyone else can fight this worldwide pandemic. SARS-CoV-2, the virus causes the disease, will not “just go away”. Only one human pathogen, smallpox, has ever been officially declared extinct. Humans are good at contributing to the endangerment and extinction of macroorganisms, but microorganisms are more able to adapt.

Promised vaccines will not be enough. Even if one or two are proven effective by November or December, it will take most of next year to manufacture the hundreds of millions of doses needed to control the spread of infection in North America alone. This is not just a national or continental pandemic. It is a world-wide pandemic. There are more than 7.8 billion people in the world.

What can we do? We must stop listening to politicians on both ends of the spectrum and start listening to the scientists and medical professionals. Like any virus, SARS-CoV-2 needs a host to live and reproduce. The relationship between the virus and its host is parasitic; not symbiotic. In time, either the host will kill the virus or the virus will kill the host. Either way, the “parent” virus dies. To survive, its “children” must find new hosts.

Our behavior can stop them. Most people know what must be done.

We must wash our hands thoroughly and often. Work up a good lather. Singing “Happy Birthday” twice is not required. That is just a convenient means of measuring the recommended minimum 20 seconds washing time. It is the soap and the scrubbing that destroys the virus. Hand washing is as effective as using hand sanitizer and less likely to irritate your hands.

As potential hosts for the virus, we can fight it by staying physically distant from each other. We are exposed to SARS-CoV-2 through direct contact with an infected person, direct contact with something that an infected person has recently touched, or by taking in the moisture an infected person exhales. When we are outdoors and breathing normally, or even ordinary talking, staying at least 6 feet apart will provide enough distance to allow that moisture to fall to the ground or otherwise dissipate. If we cough, sneeze, pant, shout, sing, etc., we must increase the physical distance.

If we are in public where a constant separation of 6 feet cannot be guaranteed and especially indoors, a mask that covers the mouth and nose is essential. A mask is not a symbol of one’s political leanings. Wearing a mask is not a sign of weakness or fear. It is no more a threat to one’s freedom than any other practices, norms, and rules that relate to public health and welfare. When all wear a mask, we protect each other.

Until we gain control of the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, wearing a mask shows that the wearer respects others and themselves. Not wearing a mask shows that the person is ignorant and a foolish, petulant, and selfish child who treats others as things. In which group do you choose to be?

Avoid places like those pictured below. We are social beings. Most of us like to be with other people. We like to “party”. BUT, places like these are  justifiably called “Superspreader Events”. A superspreader is an unusually contagious individual who has been infected with the disease. Such a person may be presymptomatic or even asymptomatic, but able to infect many others during one such gathering.

COVID-19 is a highly contagious infection. Even if no  superspreaders were present at any of the pictured gatherings, several participants at each event may have contracted the disease, A few may be dead. If superspreaders were in attendance, many more caught the disease and, in turn, carried sickness and death back to their families, friends, and communities.  No “party” is worth that risk.

 

 

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