something to think about

by Rain Trueax

I've been torn on what to write here given the times. My gosh, we get all this information but which parts do we trust? How can we know whether we can shut down for months or even a year? If it's not until a vaccine is ready, can we still pick back up a viable economic culture-- one that families can support themselves with? If we don't shut down that long, could the disease claim millions of us? What to do what to do???

Sweden went with social distancing, not shutting down businesses, and herd immunity-- let people get sick. Some claim that worked and some claim they are yet to be inundated. 

Herding is something most my age remember well. The parents would just as soon we got the measles, chicken pox and mumps. The idea was get it and you'd be done with it. Did not work that way for everybody, and now we know chicken pox can lead to later getting shingles. 

Other diseases though like whooping cough, strep and scarlet fever were taken more seriously. Polio was something people tried to avoid for their children as it was deadly or crippling at the least. My husband's aunt had it, survived, but walked with a limp the rest of her life. 

How do we decide what would work for our country but also ourselves. This idea of keeping shut businesses that are not deemed essential has had appeal for many.

The thing is what is essential? For instance car repair might be deemed that (at a time they want to ban people from even going for pleasure drives). So if car repair is, how about those who manufacture the parts needed for it? 

It's hard to get our heads around what this is doing to agriculture with people unable to sell their products, get them packaged, or get them to a market with a lot of markets shut down-- like restaurants. Some farmers are saying they won't plant due to the uncertainty. That could mean a lot more shortages ahead-- and that doesn't take into account the meat packing plants that have had to close because of workers testing positive for Covid-19. Should this be a serious concern? [One opinion]

My son-in-law has a doctorate in virology. Years back he described a virus that would prove deadly and the way this one attacks is it. One that doesn't show its symptoms right away, doesn't kill fast and is very contagious. Here we are and all the uncertainty still here for us.

I've done social distancing for years during the flu season because although I do other vaccinations, the flu shots made me sick, left me with a lump in my arm for months and I decided I couldn't risk another as they'd been getting worse each year. Yet, I can do the

pneumonia and other vaccines. Go figure. So in the season, my husband, who has the shots with no reaction, goes into the stores. This virus has added him wearing a mask and wiping everything down and only going when essential. 

This year, we have self-quarantined here, felt lucky to do it other than being way apart from our family. Still, they are better off as it is.  Turns out that a lot, who call themselves snow-birds or sun-chasers, have found their plans also disrupted. But then life has a way of doing that anyway with little predictability and often equally little control.

So I debated sharing the article below. It's by a guy known as a bit of a bomb-thrower in terms of dire predictions and also in making money for his own enterprises. Still he has some interesting ideas especially that we are not all in this together given our differing circumstances. Until I looked him up, I had never heard his name. His opinions are controversial, culturally scary for where we are heading, but are they also true? Who do you believe?