We’ve accepted the tragedy of Covid

Paying more at the gas pump is the least we can do for Ukraine

The Front Page

Morning Update

Friday, March 11, 2022

By Ken Tingley

Another local person died of Covid-19 Wednesday.

Despite the efforts of some public officials in Washington County to remove Covid precautions and the failure to even report infection rates since a week ago, Covid is very much still a danger to local residents.

Atlantic Magazine writer Ed Yong published a piece this week that asked an important question, “How did this many deaths become normal?”

As we approach 1 million Covid deaths in the United States, we have adopted a culture of acceptance about Covid as we try to return to our former lives. It’s the shrug-of-the-shoulder defense.

Yong crunched the numbers and found Covid 19 now trails only heart disease and cancer as the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

Roughly 9 million people - 3 percent of the population - have been touched by a Covid death. But here is the reason why we just don’t give a damn -  97 percent of us have not been touched by this invisible killer.

We read about the 70-year-old Warren County resident who was not vaccinated and believe he made a life choice, that his age makes it somehow less tragic.

Over the past two months, there has been a hot national debate over when we can get rid of masks. Yet, January and February were the fourth and fifth deadliest months of the pandemic. Over 1,000 people a day have been dying of Covid for six straight months.

If that many people died each day from hurricanes, tornados drug overdoses or car accidents, there would there be a public reckoning to do something.

Saratoga County reports that the town of Hadley has had 407 confirmed Covid cases, Moreau 2,936, Corinth 602 and South Glens Falls 850 while the Capital Region had 103  hospitalized Covid patients.

Covid-19 is still with us and thriving so don’t throw away those masks yet.

The carnage has been so complete that the United States has suffered the largest decline in life expectancy among all the 29 high-income countries in the world.

It won’t be long before we hit 1 million deaths and yet there is no national day of mourning planned as there often are for tragedies with far fewer victims.

Tragedy has become routine in recent weeks and overshadowed by the war atrocities overseas.

Yong points out that two years after the 1918 influenza pandemic, the U.S. was hit by a fourth wave and as people began to die in large numbers, there was virtually no response. People were just tired of it all. We are seeing the same thing now.

We’ve adopted a fatalistic attitude about the disease. Many now believe they just have to accept the risks so there is no point in wearing a mask.

Nothing showed that more than Wednesday night when Congress chopped out Covid 19 response funds from next year’s enormous spending bill. The administration said there was an urgent need for testing, therapeutics, vaccines and efforts to stop new variants. The $30 billion request was reduced to $22.5 billion then eliminated entered because Republicans did not want to spend any new federal money on the pandemic.

That means we will do even less to deal with future waves of the virus. After 9/11, enormous measures that cost billions and billions of dollars were spent to thwart terrorism. After Hurricane Katrina, the levees were addressed in New Orleans to ensure there was not another disaster. I steady, we have budgeted nothing to prepare for a future wave.

Consider these numbers:

- Elderly people over the age of 75 are 140 times more likely to die from Covid than those in their 20s.

-Unvaccinated people are 53 more likely to die of Covid than vaccinated people.

- Working class people were five times more likely to die from Covid than college graduates.

Covid exposed what we already knew about health care. Nursing homes are understaffed, disabled people are neglected and low-income people struggle to find minimal health care. Those problems have been exposed and yet we still collectively shrug our shoulders and Congress does nothing.

In the future, we will increasingly look at Covid deaths as a behavioral choice. If you didn’t get vaccinated or wear a mask, well, you only have yourself to blame. Safety has become a matter of personal responsibility.

But how will we know we are in danger if places like Washington County do not keep the public informed about the latest infection rate. If it is low, that reassures us. If it is spiking, we know to be concerned and take greater precautions.

There are things that we could be doing to head off the next wave.

Improve ventilation in workplaces, schools and public buildings to help prevent airborne viruses.

Mandate sick days for all workers to they don’t come to work ill.

Universal health care for the poor who are at the greatest risk.

Instead, we choose to debate whether we should wear a mask in a crowded room. Maybe the next time you are making that decision, consider that 1,000 people a day are still dying from Covid.

Gas prices

If you complain about rising gas prices after watching what the people of Ukraine are going through, you do not have a soul. Paying a little more at the pump and doing without some luxuries is the least we can do. Remember, during World War II gas was rationed.

Vote for my story

Nearly 50 people have already voted for my short story about the cross country trip my son and I made during the heart of the pandemic in 2020.

If you would like to see it published in an anthology of short stories by Something or Other Publishing, I ask you to click on the link below and vote for it. You just have to include your name and email to vote. Thanks again to all of you for all your support of my writing.

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Remarkably, @USATODAY, @nytimes, @washingtonpost and @WSJ all featured the same photo from the appalling maternity hospital bombing in Mariupol. It was taken by @EMaloletka. https://t.co/avh1EQfGGR