20220329 - a million

 

One million people in the US have died from COVID-19. There were no buglers playing taps, no politicians offering condolences, no churches ringing bells.

'Cause we don't sing the same song anymore
And now your offering is silent requiem
Dorothy Heyward, Du Bose Heyward, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, "Requiem", Jump Little Children, Between the Dim & the Dark, 2004

The one millionth loss-of-life due to COVD was marked on May 14, 2022. Evidently, politicians count differently than others. There was a presidential speech, and bells tolled at the National Cathedral. Because of those that refused to be inoculated, over 300,000 of these deaths are considered to be avoidable. Another failure of our education system.

20220312 - another year

Scope	Cases	Deaths
Worldwide	455,762,085	6,059,562
United States	81,154,960	993,044
Florida	5,868,632	71,853
Pinellas County	209,713	3,195

Greetings from our little tin can by the sea where Wendy and I try to survive through the COVID-19 pandemic. The numbers to the left show the current state of the pandemic. After two years, and several "vaccines", the numbers keep climbing. Many people haven't even been injected once with a "vaccine". I keep quoting "vaccine" because it's a misnomer. "Injection" would have been a better word. "Vaccine" carries the onus of one-and-done - I get the shot, and I'm protected against the virus. That's not how it works, and as people began to realize this, they called "foul" and basically tossed all scientific explanation out the window. Unfortunately, our governor is one of them. He has chosen to kill people in favor of raking in taxes from snowbirds and vacationers. Since snowbirds and vacationers are not counted in our case and death totals, he doesn't care. They come here, catch it and take it home to kill even more. We're just resuming "normal" levels after the holiday peak due to the omicron variant. There's talk now to view COVID-19 as endemic, something that has to be dealt with seasonally. As they do that, more will die. I hope that I don't catch it - dying of cancer with friends nearby is one thing, but dying in isolation due to COVID is quite another. I expect that this will continue, so I will post another update for year three if I can.

All I see turns to brown

As the sun burns the ground

And my eyes fill with sand

As I scan this wasted land

Try to find, try to find the way I feel

- Led Zeppelin, "Kashmir", Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin, 1975