This is a wonderful example of horribly bad planning.
The College of Architecture and Planning apparently didn’t plan enough space for the “C” of college and so it’s plastered to the brick wall at a corner angle.
Talk about irony!
Would you want them teaching your architect and planners?
Oy this is just too classic. 😉
(Source Photo: Facebook)
With efforts by the radical alt-left progressives to defund and dismantle police…
This is what the future for protection of innocents in this country looks like?
If you take away legitimate police and their efforts to protect citizens then this will force people to buy, build, and use even more weapons in their own self-defense.
Anarchy, chaos, lawlessness, and the wild west will be sure to take over as the new normal.
We don’t need more out of control gunslingers, gangs, and vigilantism battling for our streets.
Reform the police, protect the innocent people, and put the bad guys away. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So one huge downside to this Coronavirus shutdown is that you can barely get any help for other medical conditions or elective surgeries.
I just heard this morning from a relative about family members that can’t get shots they need for pain control or surgeries for breathing problems.
Everything now is COVID-19.
That’s the priority (maybe all of the top ten priorities)!
But does it really make sense to completely triage COVID-19 above Cancer, Heart Disease, Respiratory Disease, Strokes, Alzheimers, Diabetes, Kidney Disease, Liver Disease, Parkinson’s, and more.
Coronavirus patients are who the hospital and ICU beds are for now.
And the respirators.
The testing.
The new research dollars.
Perhaps, the global medical community has gone a little Coronavirus crazy, extreme, radical, overboard in their singular focus, panic, and chaos over just one virus to the exclusion of everything else!
Apparently, our totally “overwhelmed” medical system can’t “walk and chew gum at the same time.”
Certainly, we have a lot to be grateful for to the dedicated and selfless doctors and nurses in the medical community for everything they are doing to help people with Coronavirus under very trying circumstances.
The problem is that in the meantime, people that have new or other chronic conditions are being left out and sometimes to rot.
Unless of course you are a big fan of telemedicine, which may be good to get something routine looked after, but something major, and I think you’re in big trouble.
After this Coronavirus (assuming there is an after), there is going to be a lot of pent up demand for medical care.
I think a lot of people are suffering now with conditions that they were waiting to take care of until they were absolutely necessary, but unfortunately when it became necessary, then the care was not there.
Makes you wonder whether and when you should do or put off medical procedures in the future: just because the care is there “today,” doesn’t mean it will be there tomorrow. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
We have been told that the first case of Coronavirus/COVID-19 death in the U.S. was in February 2020.
First, we were told it was February 29 in Kirkland, Washington.
Then that is was earlier on February 6 and 17 in California.
But I and others who I have spoken to believe that the first cases of COVID-19 were with us many months earlier.
Both I and my wife developed extreme coughing around the September/October timeframe.
The coughing didn’t go away for months!
As is now being reported with COVID-19, it was like it reactivates again and again,
I went to the MinuteClinic and was prescribed antibiotics.
The cough lingered and got worse a second time.
I think I went another time to Minute Clinic or to Urgent Care and got a stronger antibiotic.
The cough lingered and got worse yet a third time.
As I become weaker and more sick (with fever at some point(s)), I found myself waking up and barely able to even get out of bed.
I forced myself back over to Urgent Care again.
I was given the flu test and it was not the flu.
And no one seemed to know what it was!
They told me that they were getting so many cases…I believe they said each location was seeing about 100 patients a day!
I was so weak I just laid on the doctors exam table half falling asleep and barely able to move to get up.
I was given yet an even stronger antibiotic and I believe some steroid medication.
After about 3-4 horrible months and almost near collapse, it finally started to get better.
I don’t remember ever getting anything like this!
I hadn’t traveled anywhere either.
Lots of people seem to have had a similar experience.
Was this COVID-19 or some precursor to it?
I/We may never know the truth.
But these symptoms and sickness was not normal.
And the high number of cases I was hearing about was beyond anything I can remember.
As we know everything about this COVID-19 is not normal as we can all attest to after weeks and months of global lockdown.
The reason that you are hearing all the confusing and contradictory communications and crisis from the “experts” and in the media is because the professionals are confused!
And we are left to wonder: when will we find out the truth about what this is, when it started, what the real dangers to us are now and into the future, and whether there will really ever be a cure for it? 😉
(Credit Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “Coronavirus: A Modern Leprosy.”
What an interesting time this week during the coronavirus for my bar-mitzvah parshas of Tazria and Metzora, where we learn about how to handle someone with the plague of leprosy…What’s fascinating though for our times is that right here in the Torah, long before medical science understood germs, washing of hands, and disinfectants, we have the first instruction on quarantining someone who is sick. The person with leprosy is deemed impure and is put outside the camp in quarantine, repeatedly checked (e.g. tested) by the Kohen, until they are healed, at which time they are purified before being allowed back in. What we don’t see with leprosy is that the whole community is put in a state of quasi quarantine as we are doing now globally with the coronavirus.
In the end, I see this coronavirus blowing up with some people forever anxious and germophobic and others becoming complacent and careless about the whole thing. Either way there will be more sick and dying people, as well as anger at the system that over time repeatedly failed us. This week’s parsha is a good reminder to go back to the ultimate wisdom of the Torah and read again how we handle the leper and manage with a thoughtful risk-based management approach and an eye on the ultimate purity—physically and spiritually—of the individual and the community.
(Free Photo via Pixabay)
I don’t know about you but I have found the communication about the Coronavirus to be absolutely confusing.
And the actions demonstrating unpreparedness, disorganized response, general chaos, and panic do not match the few calming words we are getting.
No wonder everyone is panicking and the bottom is falling from the market.
On one hand:
– The officials tell everyone to remain calm, and there is no reason to panic.
– Help is on the way.
– People are overreacting.
– Most people that get Covid 19 won’t even know they had it or the symptoms will be mild (or maybe moderate)
– The death rate is “only” like 3 or 4% and it’s mostly older people or those with chronic ailments anyway (as if these people don’t matter).
– Younger children aren’t really getting it (although we don’t know exactly why or the impact on pregnant women).
– It’s less contagious and deadly than the flu (wait, it’s more contagious and deadly).
– There are plenty of tests available for everyone (no, there aren’t).
– It will be over in a few weeks when the seasons change and the temperature goes up.
– A vaccine will soon be ready for testing and then distribution after 12-18 months.
– The numbers of infected are going down in China–see they have it under control!
– Maybe we should allow investigative drugs to be used (or maybe not, the FDA thinks this is a bad idea).
– The impact to the economy will be over probably by August (or will it?).
– It’ll ALL be over soon.
On the other hand:
– We don’t know what we’re facing (people are routinely using the words apocalypse and armageddon).
– This could be the “big one!”
– Is this a punishment from G-d (and is the Messiah coming)?
– This has reached pandemic proportions.
– We are declaring a national emergency.
– This may have come out of a Chinese bioweapons lab.
– Also, China suppressed information and initial response on this making the outbreak worse.
– “China should be punished for these things” (or some version of this).
– Cases are raising around the world.
– The contagion is worse than initially thought (there are comparisons to the Spanish Flu of 1918 which killed around 50 million people)
– The death rate is higher than expected.
– We don’t know why or where certain people got Covid 19 from.
– The hospitals are already overwhelmed and are unprepared for a real surge of cases.
– We need to “flatten the curve” so our healthcare system isn’t brought to its knees.
– We are already triaging patients and our doctors and nurses are working extra long hours and are exhausted.
– We aren’t prepared for this–our healthcare system and government has “failed us”.
– We’re rolling out unprecedented economic assistance from the Fed, the Treasury…another trillion dollar deficit (no answer for how this gets paid, if ever…can anyone say runaway inflation in the future and lots of worthless dollars).
– Washing and “Social Distancing” are paramount.
– There is a run on toilet paper and disinfectants and these are either sold out or vendors are price gouging these items.
– We are shutting down the country (workplaces, fitness centers, eat-in restaurants, entertainment, travel, places of worship, and any significant gathering of people).
– The instructions to stay at home in “indefinite”!
– People are stuck in the house and worried about how long this will go on.
– Some places like New Rochelle, NY are under quarantine and the National Guard has been called out.
– There is talk of a curfew and further measures of quarantine to be enforced under penalty of imprisonment.
– The lines at the stores (Costco, Sam’s Club, Supermarkets, Groceries) are out the door and the shelves are empty.
– Amazon announces that they are running out on consumer stables!
– Businesses are suspending workers, moving them to part time, and laying them off.
– The stock market is down by 1/3 and we’re told that this could just be the beginning.
– A recession is looming and the economic impact and duration is unknown.
– Italy is on lockdown.
– Borders are being closed.
– People can’t get home from abroad.
– Cruise ships aren’t being allowed to port.
– Airlines are screaming for a financial bailout.
– Navy Hospital Ships with 1,000 beds each are being deployed to the east and west coast.
– We’re sending $1,000 checks (or something like this) to people below a certain income level (maybe $65,000).
– Taxes are supposedly being deferred (although not filing of returns or estimated taxes yet).
– People are wearing masks everywhere (but we are being told only the sick ones need to wear it and we see everyone in China wearing it and of course our first responders and medical professionals, so which is it).
– Primary voting is delayed in some states and there is question whether the November Presidential election will also be delayed.
Summary:
Does anyone know WTF is going on around here???
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
With Coronavirus media madness 24/7…
Who can think about anything but germs!
Or should I say killing germs.
Nobody wants to get sick.
And we don’t want to get others sick either.
– Wash your hands a lot!
– No more handshakes.
– No more touching “suspect” surfaces.
– Keep good (“far”) social distancing.
– Quarantine yourself in the house for 2 weeks (actually it’s more like indefinitely).
What has become of our world.
Just one big GERM BOWL.
Can we really hide from the germs? 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Fruits and Vegetables…
Bread….
Cereal…
Paper Towels and Toilet Paper…
(Credit Photos: Andy Blumenthal @Harris Teeter)
It’s been a few exhausting weeks since the outbreak of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) has gone public.
First case in China in November.
Now as a Pandemic in 126 countries!
Over 132,000 confirmed cases, so far .
And around 5,000 deaths 🕱.
The numbers are projected to climb/////.
With Dr. Faucci of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) warning that it will “get worse before it gets better.”
Everything is closing down from our work facilities to Cruises, Broadway, and Disney.
Of course, we need the government (at all levels), health professionals, and pharmaceutical companies to get their acts together with an effective response strategy.
Also, this is a wake up call for better preparedness for all sorts of natural and man made disasters that are awaiting.
Today it’s a virus (natural or biowarfare) and tomorrow it’ll be a devastating cyber attack that we are woefully unprepared for.
No more playing politics, half measures, and waiting for the next shoe to drop (Spanish Flu, Pearl Harbor, 9/11).
The rest of us need to do our “prepping” parts and to say a prayer or two and keep going.
(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)
Saw the Movie E.M.P. over the weekend.
Everyone needs to see this!
The explosion of a nuke(s) in the atmosphere over the country causes an electromagnetic pulse that fries all our electronics.
Nothing would work!!!
Think cyberattack on steroids with everything out of commission and basically little to no chance of recovery.
Prognosis is for mass riots, starvation, and illness that wipes out most of the population.
Easy then for the enemy to swoop in and conquer the country with no resistance and the basic infrastructure still intact for them to build on.
Just having mutually assured destruction is not enough!
We need to genuinely be able to counter these threats and not just say: “You’ll die if we die.”
How stupid and immature is that thinking?
There are more than a share of radical nuts out there who don’t care if they die as long as they take us down.
These are the threats we need to pay attention to before…before…before…it’s too late. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)