KICKING THE PANDEMIC’S ASS Since the Pandemic is hogging the news lately, I thought I might as well give you my 2 cents worth. Just to start things off, let me just say this, “I hate wearing a bloody mask!” (If you’re British, you get my point.) But I’m wearing one, because I’m more afraid of ventilators than being a little uncomfortable. Actually, I know, I’m deathly allergic to ventilators. But stupid masks are just the tip of why I hate about the pandemic; I’m bored! I want to eat at Galitories in New Orleans so badly I can taste it, but since Louisiana is Coronavirus Central, and the good old USA is leading the world in Coronavirus deaths, I think heading to New Orleans would be like a death wish. Yes, we’re trapped like rats in a house full of cats, and we’re trying to dodge the ones we call Covid-19, but we’re doing a terrible job of dodging them, and when we get a runny nose, we panic, take our temperature, and wonder if that tiny, sore throat is drainage, or horrors—the Coronavirus! But I’m just getting started; and if you have a few more minutes hear me out. If I had to rank things the virus has stopped me from doing; going to Church, teaching Sunday School, and singing in the Choir would top the list. I know I could show up masked, sit on an empty row, and try to sing through a stupid mask, but my attitude would be so bad, I think Jesus would give the virus. So I’m not going to church until two weeks after I get the vaccine shot. Oh, would I take the virus vaccine shot? Hell, yes! I would take the Russian one or the Chinese nose spray, or the one they gave the six monkeys, in a New York minute. But do we actually have a problem? Or is the Coronavirus just a hoax? And are the only ones who die are the very elderly with serious preexisting illnesses? Yes, we sure do have a damn problem. It’s not a hoax, and the +200,000 dead Americans weren’t all old timers! But this problem is not just an American one. It is a worldwide one. We know it started in China, spread to Europe and Asia, and then to the USA. We had more time to prepare than any other part of the world. How was our preparation? We started out by saying it was just another flu and then a hoax. And the result? So far the United States leads the world in cases and deaths. As the virus swept through Europe and headed our way, we knew it wouldn’t hop over the USA...and it didn’t. We are the most technologically advanced nation on Earth, and yet we are doing the worst job on Earth. That is just a fact measured by any criterion you want to use. We have a fraction of the number of people than the countries of China and India, but we have more cases and deaths. The job we are doing on a daily basis is beyond horrible. The governor of Florida has just announced the state is opening up. With virus cases in Florida still soaring that is unbelievable! Is the Governor trying to reduce the population? But it’s not just in Florida. We have churches telling their members masks are optional, and national political rallies, which thousands attend most without masks and no social distancing. We are saying in effect that another 200,000 deaths are okay. Before the virus is under control, just by the horrible job we are doing right now, another 200,000 Americans will possibly die. Do we give a damn that by the time we get a vaccine 400,000 Americans will have died? I guess we don’t, not by the way we’re responding. Now, let’s step on some toes, and to start with, if you aren’t wearing a stupid mask in public you are beyond dumb, especially if you are going to any large gathering. Of course, you can tell me it’s your constitutional right not to wear a mask, and you can go anywhere you want, and if it’s to a big motorcycle rally with 400,000 attendees, where it would be statistically impossible for some of the group not to have the virus, that’s your right! And if you go and catch the virus, come home, and visit your mother in a nursing home and give it to her, and she infects 50 residents of the nursing home and a dozen die. You’re saying, “Yes, as an American, I’m within my rights, and I don’t care how many people die.” Or as another bad example; the President just announced his pick for the Supreme Court to a large crowd of almost all unmasked folks sitting shoulder to shoulder. No wonder we’re leading the world in covid-19 deaths! Well, I don’t think going on and on about not being able to do things such as going on a vacation, taking in a movie, or just having a Welcome to Fall party for 25 of my friends accomplishes anything, because we’re all in the same boat, and I hope you are paddling the boat and not expecting others to get you across the pandemic. Yes, there are a lot of y’all who aren’t paddling, and I guess the teens and twenties folks, who think they are bulletproof, are the biggest problems. But it’s just not the younger folks who are causing the virus to spread like a California wildfire. Not on your life. But why are we doing such a terrible job? Don’t we know how to control the spread of the virus? Sure we do. There are numerous countries that have suppressed the virus, and have limited the number of deaths. All we had to do was follow their lead. Our European allies are aghast at the horrible job we’re doing. If we want to control the virus, we should follow the excellent job New Zealand is doing, or any of the European countries. (1) Nationwide mandatory masks when in public. (2) Prohibit the gathering of more than 25 individual and observe social distancing. (3) Enforcement of these rules with heavy mandatory fines. (4) Close the bars and casinos until the virus is completely under control. (5) Do massive testing, quarantines, and sanitizing. It all boils down to whether you give a damn. That’s as blunt as I can make it, and if you’re in public with no mask, you might as well write on your forehead, “I don’t give a damn if you die!” Now let’s give some grades, so here goes: as a National grade I would give our Country something below an F. On a State level, we’re at least, up to a D. However, the worst grades go to the ministers who say masks and social distancing are optional. These ministers know better. How can a Christian not wear a mask? If you are a Christian and don’t wear a mask you break Jesus’s “love your neighbor as yourself” command. Yes, for you non-masked individuals that’s a bitter pill to swallow.