Things are not Looking Good

Vax or Mask

Well, it appears as though the we have not turned the corner on Covid after all. Case numbers are going up, predominantly due to the Delta variant which is significantly more contagious and spreads faster than the other strains. Delta now accounts for 83% of the nation's Covid cases. The CDC is back-pedaling and suggesting that all people - vaccinated and unvaccinated - again wear masks inside crowded places. Duh! With less than 50% of the US population fully vaccinated, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that keeping masks on would be a good idea. 

For the first time I am seeing (and hearing) a ground swell of sentiment against the unvaccinated. It is due to them that we never reached herd immunity, and the Delta variant was able to take hold. Again, they claim it is a violation of their rights to force them to get a vaccination. But what about the violation of the rights of the vaccinated? Why should we be forced to wear masks again when we did the right thing by getting vaccinated? Until there are severe consequences to those who refuse the shot such as being let go from their jobs, not being allowed into public venues, not being able to board a plane or a ship, we will never convince them to be vaccinated so that we stand a chance or eradicating this deadly virus.

Here is an update on overall Covid statistics. North Carolina has had 1.05 million cases and 13,651 deaths. In the United States there have been 35 million cases (1 million more than I reported two weeks ago!) and 613,000 deaths. Worldwide there have been 197 million cases and 4.2 million deaths. How can so many people just ignore these statistics?

It is certainly possible that more restrictions will be imposed on us in the near future. The results of behaving as if there was no pandemic for the past couple months is taking its toll.