Yesterday I got a little ranty on Facebook. Scrolling for my feed, I kept coming across all kinds of medical scare articles. You know, the ones that narrate in excruciating detail just how severe COVID-19 disease affects the body. Or others that go on about how the virus mutates and that means this will never end. Or others making all kinds of unproven claims about the virus doing this or that awful thing to various parts of the body. None of which are helpful in the current situation, none of which contain any information that I can do anything about. So, I wrote the following
For my sanity:
I am not reading any articles that deal with what acute COVID-19 illness involves. There is dick all I can do about it that I am not already doing. Reading these articles just freaks me out.
For the same reason, I’m skipping past a lot of the articles that deal with the stupid in parts of the US. Not a bloody thing I can do about them.
I am also not going to speculate about the “real” death rate. We just can’t know at this point, and, again, it won’t get us anywhere at this stage of the game. This is one of the reasons why widespread testing *must* be part of any approach to relaxing the restrictions. We can plan all we want, but until those dependencies are met, we cannot move forward. The only other way I see we can short-circuit this is to find a proven treatment that will treat the symptoms of acute disease, and I don’t expect that to be forthcoming immediately.
I am reasonably confident that Canada is generally dealing with this in a science-based, rational manner and that they won’t propose things while we are still in crisis mode that will send us right back to square 1. Because of the way it’s been slowed down here we do have a chance to learn from other countries as to what works and what doesn’t.
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And then, after seeing the same photos of the “Liberty” protesters in Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, and other states posted over and over and over again in the media, I got a little fed up. And posted this.
Dear media:
You know those ‘liberty’ protesters?
Definitely write about them. But no photos. Please use photos of patients on ventilators instead.
They’re looking for attention for their idiot signs and Trump paraphernalia and swastikas and shit, and they’re expecting you to provide it. They have no other useful purpose than to stir up fear, and you’re feeding into it
Describe their signs, sure. Interview them with their real names. Don’t want to give names? No quotes for you, dickwad.
There are lots of good news stories right now that deserve the light of day. Restaurants providing free meals to front line workers. People sewing PPE. People laying out tables of food for the homeless. We need to counter the stark and deadly reality of this disease with encouragement for everyone to pull together, whether that means staying home or continuing to do those essential jobs.
We do not need someone grousing about not being able to get a haircut. That’s not worth your time or ours.
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And today, after a rather down day yesterday, encouraging signs that we may be reaching peak in Ontario, and perhaps already on the downswing with community transmission, although the daily numbers overall are still creeping up, so we’re not in the clear by any means yet. Doug Ford, to his credit, has been a good leader through all of this in recent weeks, although we’ve had to deal with the downstream effects of cuts he made to health care and public health last year. He’s focused on people, not on “the economy.” One can hope his party has learned its lesson, although that remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, I dropped off fifteen scrub caps today, and put the final touches on my entry for the “Shelter in Place Scribal Challenge”, where I received two lovely small pieces of handmade vellum to use to produce an illuminated capital – one painted, one a pencil sketch.
Scilicet 