What is your current outlook on Covid?
And what do you think the short- and long-term implications of how we are dealing with it as a country?
As a part of my new SDE (Systematic Disciplined Experimentation), I’m putting out a piece of video content daily for 30 days. I do this on Facebook & Instagram Live where I answer a question about things like: life, ego, thoughts, and now Covid. I hadn’t discussed this topic publicly, so before I went live I decided to do a brain-dump with all my thoughts. That brain dump is below and I would love to hear what your thoughts are to the same questions. Enjoy!!!!
I am not the only one that thought this, but early on I knew the world would be forever different. Fast-forward five months and I think it’s safe to say that most people agree with that statement. Outside of that, I can’t think of anything else that an overwhelming majority of people agree with at the moment (well, maybe the government/medical system distrust).
I did miss the mark on a prediction of mine; well, it was more of a hope than a prediction. Early on I HOPED (had a little belief) that since Corona crossed all the lines (race/gender/ethnicity/location/etc), it might bring us together as human beings. I think that happened in the first month or so, but it seems our country has become more divided than it was prior to Covid.
We all have opinions and we are all entitled to them; however, we are not entitled to our own facts. Most of what follows are some questions mixed with a bit of my opinion. There will also be a few facts scattered which I will note with (FACT) immediately following said fact.
Recently the country went back to some safety measures which has forced some businesses to re-close and others to scale down. This is because the Covid rates jumped significantly after the opening of businesses. And that my friends, raises my first question: who didn’t see that coming and how did they not?
Another question I have is when is enough enough? Our economy is already going to be fucked for the foreseeable future and if we don’t open up soon we’ll be forced to continue to print money, while making recovery more difficult. Additionally, assuming we aren’t already at this point, when do we begin to consider the idea that the cure might become worse than the symptom?
It would be one thing if we knew that by a specific date we’d have a solution, but that is not the case. And, is the solution we are waiting for a vaccine? Because if it is I hope it’s not the same group that has been working on an HIV vaccine for the last 40 years. Assume they come up with a vaccine within the next 12 months, I’d be curious to know the percentage of people that would actually get it. While I’m not an anti-vaxxer (the military pumped me with plenty of shit), I’m also not going to put anything in my body that has NO long-term studies and was created in the matter of months. (I pass no judgement if you feel differently about this — -you be you!!!)
So with no solution in sight, what are the expectations? If a solution doesn’t come for another 12 months, are we planning to keep things closed or at half capacity? If that’s the case, do we have a plan for all the unemployed people and for the business owners that can’t sustain their business operating at half capacity (or more in some cases)? The effect this would have on our economy is scary. This is my short-term concern (2–5 years).
Looking into the future, my biggest concern isn’t being discussed or addressed by any person from our government or our medical “leaders” (at least I haven’t heard). Nor have I seen anyone on my social feed mention it. This isn’t surprising considering how reactive we are as a society/country.
IMAGINE THIS: We start adding to the “wear your mask” and “social distance yourself” conversations and guidance, “you can also protect yourself by having a strong immune system and you can get one of these by eating fruits & vegetables, staying active, managing stress, and getting rest”? [FACT] I’d also recommend adding, “Parents, we know you LOVE your kid, but you may want to STOP feeding little 5 year old Timmy all that poison you ate and drank as a kid (sodas, Little Debbie's, greasy ass potato chips) and replace it with something a bit healthier.”[FACT]
While that seems like a common sense [and moral] thing for our government to promote, the repercussions of doing that could be damaging to their career as a politician. Having a [less stressed] healthier society means less people taking pills and that means big pharma loses money.[FACT] Pissing off big pharma can be the difference in millions to your re-election campaign so instead of a “GOT FRUITS & VEGETABLES” campaign, we (my age) saw “GOT MILK” growing up. Oh and the dairy lobbyist love them $ome GOT MILK campaigns.[FACT]
So my long-term concern: the future immune systems of the young children that are living in an isolated, social distancing, mask wearing world today. As a kid (& adult) if we live in a bubble, our immune system will weaken because it doesn’t get enough work and as an adult, they will be more prone to getting sick.[FACT] So while big pharma is licking their chops because they know this means they’ll be able to sell MORE PILLS, I would hate to see a more severe pandemic (Covid 46) in 20–30 years with a population of people with even weaker immune systems.
So to sum in up: eat your fruits/veggies, be active in the sunlight, breathe, rest and take a cold shower a day (for real, do it)!
Lastly, please just wear you fucking mask and be kind to each other. :)
Feel free to answer any of the questions above or give me your opinion!
-pr
