Weekly Mail Special: COVID-19

My Facebook friends list is diverse. I like that.

I like the fact that I have folks from all over the country, all over the political spectrum.  I'll try not to name drop here, but I have former colleagues from the Post (who believe it or not mostly lean to the left) who are up on the news. I have friends from Rockaway, who can stir the debates as well as any Sunday Morning Talk Show. Not all of them are FB friends, but I read their answers and try to understand where they are coming from, especially the ones I don't agree with.

Here in Oceanside, my friends here are split. I have a few Trumpsters, a few Never Trumpsters and some actually who are down the middle if you can believe that or not.

I welcome every and all opinions. If I don't consider the other side, I won't learn. Won't learn why they think the way they do. Maybe I can change their minds, and maybe they can change mine. One thing I really try not to do is toss the word stupid around. I wouldn't want that done to me. I am by no means a genius, and I really should read more about current events than I do, but I can tell you that I don't put anything on this blog regarding the news until I have consulted multiple sources. I sincerely believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion.

But I also have a line drawn, especially in regards to this pandemic.


If you are a Trump supporter, that's your right. Readers of this blog know that I am not, I think he is an a$$hole. I've never thought of any President that way before. I thought Bill Clinton disgraced the Oval Office with what he did with Monica Lewinsky, I thought George W. Bush mishandled the economy and I thought Barack Obama became a very good President once he realized that it was going to take more than the force of his personality to make changes. But I also never thought they put themselves in front of their country, our country.

I think every move Donald Trump has made as President has been for his own benefit.

That's my opinion. Yours may be different. And that's OK.


I've had my issues with Governor Cuomo. He's pushed an agenda that I feel is too far left for my liking. But since this pandemic has happened,  he's been tough when needed and compassionate when necessary. He doesn't gloat over numbers that show deaths going down because he knows that one death is too many, that's still a family who has lost someone they loved. I agree with his decision to slowly re-open.

I know people are hurting now. I am sincere when I say I know how frustrating it is to be out of work. I have friends who own businesses who are up against it. The Woodhaven House, where I had many nice family moments is closing down. Nobody wants to see that.

I'm the dad of a 6th grader who missed out on a school trip and will have to do his 6th grade graduation remotely. It's breaking my heart, not only for him, but for all the kids who are missing out on milestones this year. Kids graduating from high school are really getting screwed. I don't know how I would have acted if after four years of high school I was denied a proper graduation celebration.

But this virus is serious folks. And it has to be dealt with properly. If you don't like how it's being handled here in NY, I do sympathize, but I respectfully disagree.  We don't need this thing coming back worse than ever. Let's keep our distance, get these numbers down and kick this things ass once and for all.

I can accept different opinions than my own.

Here is what I can't accept.

Here's what I WON'T accept.


All these idiots out there who are saying that this is no worse than the flu.

Anyone who thinks this is a hoax.

A hoax?

This is not a hoax. This is not the seasonal flu. If you think that, you're a f-ck-ng moron.


Both my wife and I work in hospitals. I'm nowhere near any COVID-19 Patients. But because I can do registrations, I am considered essential hospital staff.

But that's nothing compared to where Tara worked for 7 weeks. In the ICU. Overnight.

She would come home in the morning, shaken over what she saw. She's not some rookie fresh out of nursing school either, she's been at this for a long time. She's seen a lot. But nothing like this.

A hoax?

Have you spoken to any families who have lost someone to this virus. I have. I have an old college friend who lost her otherwise healthy father to this virus. She blogs about it daily. I read it everyday, just in case I start to forget how real this is. (which I won't BTW)

At both my jobs I've lost colleagues. I can't talk about the hospital colleagues, but at the Post, sports photographer Anthony Causi, a year older than me, died from Covid-19 complications.

A hoax?

How can you look at these numbers and say that? Almost 30,000 people dead in New York in 3 months. This week, we passed the 100,000 dead mark in America. That's real.

It's not a hoax people. Get that through your heads.




PART II: The Case Against Donald Trump:

There are many out there who blame President Trump solely for this.


Does he bear responsibility? Absolutely. 

All of it?  No. He's not responsible for the virus itself, but he didn't do nearly enough to stop it.



Check this out from Reuters.

The Global Health Security and Biodefense unit — responsible for pandemic preparedness — was established in 2015 by Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor, Susan Rice

The unit resided under the National Security Council (NSC) — a forum of White House personnel that advises the president on national security and foreign policy matters.

In May 2018, the team was disbanded and its head Timothy Ziemer, top White House official in the NSC for leading U.S. response against a pandemic, left the Trump administration, the Washington Post reported. 

Trump apologists have tried to say that the President simply streamlined a bloated NSC, but that's just more psycho-babble. The bottom line is Obama had the foresight to create a program to fight a possible pandemic and Trump disbanded it.

But even with that, he could have still saved thousands of lives. 

Here is a timeline I put together



Here are the highlights, I have cross checked all of these quotes to make sure the dates and information are accurate..


1/22- We have it totally under control. It's one person coming from China. We have it under control. It's going to be just fine." -interview with CNBC.

2/2 "We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”

2/10 "Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that’s true. But we’re doing great in our country. China, I spoke with President Xi, and they’re working very, very hard. And I think it’s going to all work out fine."

2/24 "The Corona-virus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

2/26 "I want you to understand something that shocked me when I saw it that — and I spoke with Dr. Fauci on this, and I was really amazed, and I think most people are amazed to hear it: The flu, in our country, kills from 25,000 people to 69,000 people a year. That was shocking to me. And, so far, if you look at what we have with the 15 people and their recovery, one is — one is pretty sick but hopefully will recover, but the others are in great shape. But think of that: 25,000 to 69,000. , when you have... "And again 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” 

2/28- At a rally in Des Moines, calls it a Democratic hoax

3/4 "It's safe to fly"

3/6 "Anybody who wants a test can get one. And the tests are perfect."

3/9 "It's no worse than the flu"

3/10 "This was unexpected  And it will go away"

3/25: Nobody could have seen this coming

ummmm


Finally on 3/31, even Trump acknowledged that this wasn't just the flu. Even though some of his most moronic supporters still insist that it is. Still the cat was out of the bag on February 28, when he called it the Democrats New Hoax. If that's not enough for you to see how incompetent he is, I don't know what to tell you.


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And look, as much as I've given props to Governor Cuomo, he hasn't been perfect either.

I never thought something like 9/11 could happen. I never thought Hurricane Katrina could wipe out New Orleans. I didn't think anything like Super Storm Sandy could hurt us as much as it did.

But they all did. At this point in my life, if they say it can happen, I believe them.

So why wasn't our hospitals stocked with PPE?  Why weren't our schools set up for the chance they would have to be taught remotely?

The fact of the matter was we weren't prepared for this. And I'm not laying that all on Trump. The bad guys still want to take us out, that didn't end with Osama Bin-Laden's death. I didn't think nearly 20 years after 9/11 that I would still feel like a sitting duck.

But I do. Let's say it wasn't a pandemic, let's say it was more planes into buildings, or another super storm. Shit, at this point, I'm convinced the plot of Armageddon or The Day After Tomorrow is on the table here. Not to mention Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin and their respective red buttons.

Are we ready for that?

Not if our nurses are wearing garbage bags instead of scrubs.

Not if we are making masks out of old tee shirts.

We needed to be better prepared. There is no excuse now. We can't assume it can't happen. If it can happen it will.

And his directive to discharge COVID-19 patients to nursing homes was a huge blunder, one I really wish he would take more responsibility for. He's tried to pin that on Trump as well, but the reality is he has to own this. Knowing that older people are the most vulnerable to this virus, sending positive patients to nursing homes rather than keeping them in the hospital was mind boggling.

Again, I feel Cuomo did more good than bad, but he blew it here.



WHO ELSE TO BLAME


A couple of weeks ago, a friend of a friend, posted an NPR article stating that the chances that COVID-19 was either manufactured in a Chinese Lab or was accidentally released from said lab were slim to none.

I'm not saying my friend, or the article he posted was wrong.

But I'm not ruling it out.

The article, interestingly enough lent some credence to the "someone ate a raw bat" theory. While they didn't say that right out, they did suggest that it most likely came from some sort of bat to human transmission.

I'm not ruling that out either.

I'm also not ruling out that it originated in an illegal Chinese wet market.

Many of the so-called wet markets in China according to some articles I've read, are no more dangerous than your average Farmer's market. You can get fresh fruits and veggies, as well as fish and chicken.

It's the illegal wet markets where they slaughter live animals right then and there that to me would be a likely source for this. I just get the creeps thinking about that. I don't know if I'd enjoy my Donovan's cheeseburger as much if I knew the cow it came from was slaughtered right there on Roosevelt Avenue. Those illegal unregulated markets are probably rife with diseases. Whose to say that this virus didn't come from that?

And I know they say the chances are slim, but I'm sorry, I'm also not ruling out bio terrorism either. We've obviously have not had anything like this in out lifetimes, but we have had other disasters, and like those, we've had our share of heroes. Nurses, doctors, first responders, grocers, restaurants who are losing lots of cash, but still come in and cook for take out, we've seen the best of the best.

We've seen the best. But we know the worst if out there too. I'm sorry folks, with this many people dead, I can't rule out that someone with evil intentions was behind this. It may come out that it was animal to human transmission, I'm not a scientist, but I'll always wonder.

And I've also considered the possibility that this whole thing was environmental. Again, not a scientist here, and I'll be the first to say I climbed on the climate change bandwagon late, but I on it now, and I can't help but wonder if the fact that we had 70 degree days in February and snow flurries on May 9th here in NY have something to do with people getting sick, or not being able to fight it off.

Who I'm NOT going to blame is Bill Gates, who according to some people, makes Hitler look like Mr. Rogers. I didn't think Bill Gates intentionally put viruses in Windows 95 and I don't think he created COVID-19 so that he could create a vaccine to inject us all with micro-chips. I'm sorry folks, if you believe that, it's time to get fitted for a tin-foil hat.


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When this whole thing started, several people either said or posted on line that we should give the President our support as we fought through the pandemic. I thought back to 9/11, when I did that for President Bush. I hadn't voted for him the previous November, and I didn't like the shenanigans that took placed in Florida, but I put that behind me and hoped he would do the right thing.

I honestly tried to do the same thing here. I tried to write about other things, and when I did write about the virus, tried to avoid lashing out. I hoped upon hope that when push came to shove, the President would do the right thing. He did do somethings right, sending us the USNS Comfort and restricting travel.

But the bottom line to me was that he cared more about the health of the economy than the health of his citizens. And I see far too many people who agree with him.

And these are the people who are saying that this is just the flu.

Just a hoax.

If you can look at 100,000 dead Americans, thousands of families who can't even properly bury their loved ones, and still call this a hoax, then shame on you.


Shame on you.