Health and Sanity category archive

In a thoughtful article at The Seattle Times, Danny Westneat compares the different approaches to delivering COVID-19 vaccines in the neighboring states of Washington and Oregon and the larger implications thereof.

Here’s a bit:

There’s a real-time experiment in medical ethics and triage playing out right now between us and our sister state to the south, Oregon.

At its core is an uncomfortable question that nobody wants to fall on the wrong side of: Who really is essential in a society?

So who’s up next?

Here in these parts we are seeing similar arguments being played out on a much smaller scale as neighboring cities struggle with questions of, for example, reopening schools and restarting high school sports. Westneat offers a reasonable and reasoned assessment of the situation.

Macho man.

Instagram covidiots.

An excerpt from Dr. Fauci’s remarks:

One of the things that was made clear as recently as about 15 minutes ago when I was with the President is that one of the things we are going to do is to be completely transparent, open, and honest. If things go wrong, not point fingers, but correct them.

The veiled criticisms of the recently departed federal administrator are subtle and striking. The comments at about the 17 minute mark are truly of moment.

This is a must-listen.

Florida Woman.

At the Roanoke Times, Keith Young marvels at those who go maskless in blunderland. (Frankly, the piece could use a little help from an editor, but he makes good points.) Here’s a bit:

First Amendment extremists espousing “give me liberty or give me death” as the reason to ignore simple life saving requests will definitely receive one of those wants, though I think not the liberty they pine for, rather maybe get the virus-induced pine box. Freedom without rules is chaos, thus we have a Constitution and amendments. We give up a few personal freedoms to preserve our country’s freedom. As a Vietnam combat veteran I have seen true sacrifice, even under fallible political leaders. Masking and distancing are NOT sacrifices.

Will Bunch offers a theory as to why the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine has been so badly botched. He suggest that is the fault of a president, but not necessarily the one who might spring first to mind.

. . . the president who created this mess was Ronald Reagan, who assured a similarly anxious nation upon taking office in 1981 that “[i]n this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem — government is the problem” and then put a lack of money where his mouth was. The early years of Reagan’s presidency saw a budget cut of 25% for the Department of Health and Human Services and, with that, the elimination of vital public health programs.

The Roanoke Times editorial board minces no words. A snippet:

. . . how can we explain the nearly 100 people who showed up at the Bedford County Board of Supervisors last week to oppose Gov. Ralph Northam’s latest restrictions on crowd sizes as a way to slow the spread of coronavirus? Among them was Isaiah Knight, who is challenging incumbent Kathy Byron for the Republican nomination for the House of Delegates. He brought a “no shutdown” resolution for the board to adopt that, according to The (Lynchburg) News & Advance, called for arresting Virginia state troopers and health officials who enforce the governor’s order.

“Today, we’re on a razor’s edge between liberty and tyranny,” Knight said. “Fear isn’t the only thing that’s contagious, though. Courage is contagious. Be courageous. Defend the Constitution. The time is now that we the people take back the power and restore Virginia to her rightful place as a bastion of liberty.”

What utter nonsense.

And it gets better from there.

Sam Seder, Emma Vigeland, and Dr. MarkAlain Dery discuss the failure of the Trump administration to address the current pandemic.

A doctor recounts how the pandemic is overwhelming his hospital, located in a less prosperous area of Chicago, and its staff. A snippet:

To build resilience, my global health team teaches local front-line health care workers about the principles of dealing with limited resources in war-torn countries such as Syria and Yemen, and fragile states such as Sierra Leone and Bangladesh. The austere environment is the rule, not the exception, in some of these regions. I never imagined that we would be using the same principles in my hospital in Chicago.

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