We don’t talk about politics on this site. And if people want to make public health safety political, they can, but I don’t consider it political. In the future, someone will read this post, so here’s the deal: it’s September 9, 2020, and Coronavirus (COVID-19) is still a problem in the US. About a third of the students in my school district are learning from home. Infection rates in my state are down, but we just saw a spike where they briefly went up again, then back down. With students back in school and college, the cases of students being infected or being exposed are rising. Will schools eventually have to close again, or will the contact tracing work? You’d need a crystal ball to know.
And in my county, there’s still a mask law, so you have to wear one in a public building. I’ve seen people without them. There’ve been about 200,000 Covid-19 deaths in the US at this point. Some people refuse to believe that, just like they refuse to believe global warming, despite a near-universal agreement among scientists who study climate change. Somehow, ignoring science, whether covid or global warming, has become “political.” I refuse to call science political. It’s science, and stupid people ignore science.
Anyway, some of my fellow musicians have decided to start gigging again, which is their call to make. I’m 55 and I have high blood pressure and some other medical issues, so I’m holding out for a safe vaccine. What would make a vaccine safe in my eyes? A vaccine that the greater worldwide medical community, in addition to our own medical experts, call safe. No politician in either party is going to tell me something is safe. I’ll listen to the experts, not the people whose political career will be impacted.
If I made my living via live music, I’d put a mask on and gig, as long as the conditions were safe. I like the CDC opinion of exposure – you are exposed if you are within 6 feet of someone infected for at least 15 minutes. This definition is not perfect, but it’s based on their studies and it does make sense to me. Crowded bars and restaurants is what caused my country to lose all the progress we made against this thing back in April. We did a great job of isolating, then people got bored and they reopened the bars and restaurants and everything blew up. Just like the medical experts said it would.
So I personally want a safe vaccine, but I’d also like an outdoor environment where no one is within 6 feet of me. Right now, I’m planning on about May 2021. Hopefully it’ll be sooner, but one never knows. I know I don’t want to sing with a mask. Will I have to, in May? Who knows. If I have to, I have to. I don’t know how soon I’ll be willing to perform indoors where people are eating and drinking. All we can do is make decisions at the time that are based on SCIENCE and not one of the two heavily biased news networks (MSNBC and Fox.) Getting scientific news from an organization with a political agenda is not logical. If you think one or the other of those networks don’t have a huge agenda, I have a bridge I want to sell you.
It’s no wonder my country is doing terrible with this virus compared to some other countries. No one could argue that the US has handled this crisis well, if they look at real data. Blame whoever you want, but it’s the people who couldn’t wait to get back out into the bars and restaurants that caused our issues to explode after starting to get a handle on things.
In my county where almost everyone has a mask on, the cases have continued to decrease. I think we’re on to something, there.
You are the only person that can decide what is safe for you. But you can walk around with this thing dormant in you for a couple of weeks, infecting other people, if you don’t wear a mask. Even if you do, you can still infect people, but the odds are less. If you don’t believe that, you’re not listening to the scientists. Not the ones who go on those two networks and say what will get them on TV, but the real scientists.
I am turning into quite the old man, aren’t I? Five years ago I wouldn’t have posted this. But dammit, this is NOT political! If you think it is, your politics are at odds with actual science. People of both parties are wearing masks and it’s helping. But I’m afraid that Americans will get lazy about this, go right back to their old ways, and we’ll have another huge outbreak that will kill thousands and thousands of Americans. I’ve definitely talked to people who think the numbers of dead Americans aren’t real. I also know people who were seriously hospitalized because of this thing, and I know someone who died from it. There are also holocaust deniers. Science, dammit.
Oh well. At least I have lots of time to practice and make videos. Wear a mask, follow the CDC guidelines, don’t trust anyone with a political agenda who wants you to ignore science, and keep practicing.
