welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Monday, April 12, 2021

covid 19-are the variants winning the race

COVID 19-ARE THE VARIANTS WINNING THE RACE


we have lost over 550,000+ americans to the covid 19 virus
some states like michigan florida illinois nebraska new york new hampshire south dakota new jersey idaho and several other states have seen an uptick in cases
those cases will probably mostly be one of the variants

here where i live 40 % of the cases are due to a west coast variant and about 30% are due to the uk variant
this uk variant is more contagious and more virulent and more deadly than the west coast or the original wild type of covid 19

what this means is that you if you are not immunized against covid 19 you are much more likely to get infected doing those activities you did when the wild type was the main one everywhere last year

it seems to hit the young adults and kids the hardest 
now they are the ones that are spreading the virus the most 
the majority of older folks are immunized
those over 80 are immunized at about 80%
teachers and school employees are immunized at about 80%

here in our county around 40% of  our residents have received their first dose
nationally 20% of folks are fully vaccinated
so
nationally that leaves 80% not immunized completely granted some of them had their first doses

thats a lot of people left that can get infected by these more aggressive variants
luckily the 3 vaccines work against these variants
for now

so children and young adults are the ones that are mostly spreading the disease now
carrying it to these vulnerable populations
folks
there are millions of vulnerable folks left to get infected here in the us

dont be the one that carried the virus to those vulnerable americans

it seems schools are not big superspreaders
why
they mostly follow the rules
80% of staff are vaccinated
they wear masks and students wear masks
they safe distance
they have improved ventilation
they do a lot of hand sanitizing with hand washing and use of hand sanitizers
ie
they are doing what the cdc recommends

what is not safe it seems are many of the activities outside of school
like
competitive and youth sports and other group activities
these eg in michigan are the big sources of the spread of the virus amongst young folks

then you look at superspreader events going on like in texas
where
the texas rangers opened up their opening game to a stadium of folks who remained unmasked

the only folks there who were safe 
were
the ones that were immunized
thats about 20% of about 30,000 fans or 6,000 lucky ones
24,000 of them were fair game for the virus

how many texans will get infected and die from folks going to that ball game
are the texas rangers responsible and liable for those deaths
remember science can now identify a virus dna to see who spread it

all the beach openings in florida were big ole superspreader events
odds are not many of them were immunized at all

now granted young folks dont get really sick with the covid 19
but 
some do if they are obese or have asthma or diabetes or other high risk health issues
and 
they all brought the virus back to their home states to infect others many who are vulnerable

when history looks back on this 
history will look at it like it did with the flu epidemic of the early 1900s
showing how peoples actions lead to thousands of people dying
many of them would have survived if folks would have just followed the recommendations
like we have today by the cdc

wear a mask
avoid travel
avoid large groups
were the 1900s flu epidemic recommendations

jsut like today millions didnt do these things
so thousands have died unnecessarily 

so 
here is where we are at today
the variants are going after the unvaccinated folks and folks with no immunity to the virus
thats about 60% of us americans or around 200,000,000 folks

if we dont do whats needed to be done several thouands more of us will die or get permanently affected by this disease

so
get vaccinated its the only way we can stop this pandemic
wear a mask even if you are vaccinated
avoid large gatherings 
avoid travel if you have not had the vaccine
keep a safe distance from others

if you dont
we will let history repeat itself

heres what i feel safe doing
if i had to travel i would feel comfortable doing it since i am vaccinated
if i am around unvaccinated people i keep a safe distance
i avoid gathering with unvaccinated folks
i always wear my mask outside our condo
i still wash my hands or use hand sanitizer something we all should do all the time anyway 

a local preschool has hardly seen any illness in its kids at the school this year
thats things like colds flu rsv vomiting fevers diarrhea etc
why
mask wearing inside
washing hands and use of hand sanitizer
avoiding activities that spread germs like shared table play areas etc
outside play areas and class time
they are considering doing all these when the pandemic is over 
minus probably the mask wearing

so if these 3 and 4 and 5 year olds can do these be safe things
why 
cant 
yall adults do it

we are maybe a couple of months away to reaching that magic herd immunity that will allow most of what we use to do to return

lets dont mess this up 
and
let the variants win

the organicgreen doctor

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