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social, health, political imagery through the lens of G J Huba PhD © 2012-2021

Posts from the coronavirus Category

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Let me start by saying that we are not in the stage of AFTER the recent pandemic COVID pandemic. Rather, much of the world still needs help to address COVID vaccines and other issues like the poverty that lets a pandemic spread. But some countries — and the US is one — are now at the stage where we can start to evaluate and understand our shortcomings to prepare for the future. At the very least, a careful analysis of the problems in the COVID pandemic needs to be done so that rich and poor nations can benefit in the future. And the richer nations need to stockpile medicines and medical supplies and needs for permanent and temporary hospitals and clinics and the poorer nations. And we also need to analyse how and why UNICEF failed the poorer countries.

Bill Gates — the noted fanboy of getting publicity through plagues and pandemics — always runs to the news outlets and says that his approach of giving some of the money he stole from the world through exploitative business practices to medical experts (of which he is not one in spite of the fact he plays one in the media),

The approach of having medical experts lead the fight on a pandemic has been found to be lacking since a pandemic is much more than a medical event. Medical experts provided excellent services and produced the research that led to successful vaccines are a key part. But much more is needed in order to address a fast-moving pandemic. People need to be informed in ways they understand. Medical and social service workers need to quickly retrained in the special skills needed to identify and treat infections. Resources — money, medical providers, medical supplies, training, the poverty of many that limits access to healthcare, how the medical and social systems efficiently perform in a coordinated way, education to children when they cannot go to school because of the risk to themselves and others of exposure to a virus, and many other forms of service and help — need to be shared between the rich nations and the poor nations. And the sharing of resources cannot always start in the rich nations with services provided in the poorer nations last.

Effective prevention and treatment services needs to be provided in fairer and more useful forms in the next pandemic.

The following mind map lists some of the issues that must be identified and fixed for a proactive fight against infectious diseases. People will need to be far more cooperative than during COVID, the rich who pay for most of the fight on emerging pandemics must not always get in line to be first, drug companies and many other businesses must not be allowed to make exploitive profits, and religion and gender and poverty and race must not affect whether a needed service is provided.

Please expand the mind map by clicking on it.

The COVID pandemic in the USA and globally is not over. It is hidden. And i’t th’t t will be back in its current form or others. Don’t throw away your N95 respirators (masks).

Follow highly credible health and medical experts with decades of experience in infectious diseases to make sure that you are approaching the covid pandemic correctly. Don’t just pick-up the TV remote and assume any old pundit that wants to talk about the covid pandemic knows something. Most governors of US states know little about health issues.

And even if those giving you information about what you should do in the upcoming new stages of the pandemic.

Do you really want the bozos on Fox TV and its ilk to provide information that is incorrect and can put your family and you at high risk for covid?

Click on the image to expand it.

 

Using visual thinking methods probably can improve the ability of many individuals to solve various problems efficently and more effectively.

Take a look at the following mind map. Do you think that you would understand these isssues better if I had written out the views in the mind map as 3 pages of dense words?

Click on the mind map to zoom in.

It seems very obvious to me that the 2020 (now 2021) Olympics starting on July 23, 2021 should be a “no starter.”

Covid infection and death rates are again surging as Variant D spreads globally

Holding the Olympics could cost millions of lives. Worth it to you? Not to me.

Click the image to expand it.

 

Some other considerations.

 

Get vaccinated. Your risk of getting  Covid-19 is going way up if you are unvaccinated. If you do not have access to vaccine, wear a mask, stay six feet away from others, stay out of crowds, and wash your hands.

Variant Delta (D or the Indian variant also well-established in the UK)  is the most severe of all variants to date, and is becoming the dominant version of Covid-19 in many countries. Many public health professionals predict that within a few months Variant Delta will the dominant strain globally and in the USA, much as it is currently dominant in India and the UK..

If you want to see the most current information about Covid-19, Variant Delta, search with Google or an alternative search engine. As I write this on June 19, 2021, there is a huge amount of news stories available. CNN has had good coverage on Variant Delta.

Current information is that Variant Delta is the most problematic and deadly Covid-19 variant yet.

The vaccines work if administered to ALL very soon.

The vaccines are currently available widely only in rich, larger countries.

In poor countries, vaccine access is available only to the rich and politically connected.

Even the largest current donation of vaccines (500 million doses by the USA) is woefully inadequate.

Here’s why. Click the image to expand it.

Now that the physicians and virologists and Big Pharma have put together effective vaccines we need to get the vaccine into the arms of our fellow citizens. People are nervous about the fact that the super-fast development of a vaccine may have been possible by not taking the same care as has been provided in the past. They fear possible side effects and wonder if researchers have fully studied and discovered all of the potential problems. Horrible mistakes from the past were made when white scientists used black populations as their test subjects, often giving people dangerous drugs without any information about problems or any informed consent protections. Some don’t think that the information they provide during the vaccination process will be stored on computers by doctors or health organizations or the government for future research.

Behavioral scientists can easily notice issues like the one I discussed in this tweet on 12/18/2020.

The bottom line is that physicians and nurses spend decades in training and clinical residencies about how to treat patients once they come in the door to the hospital, clinic, or office. Their excellence is second to none.

The second bottom line is that both behavioral research and clinical behavioral workers spend decades in training and supervised experience in getting people to evaluate and trust medical professionals, treatments, and aftercare, and then come through the door at the hospital, clinic, or office. Their excellence is second to none.

The US national covid response committee formed by President-elect Biden is comprised of physicians and a few epidemiologists with public health degrees (and without medical degrees). In general, this group is inexperienced in reassuring patients and getting them to accept treatments that appear scary.

To develop the best possible covid response we need to include behavioral scientists (psychologists, social workers, public health facilitators, community organizations, counselors, and many others) on the advisory panels and in the implementation of the covid response. Someone afraid to walk through the door or not. convinced that a vaccine works is not coming in for an injection.

The issues and a possible plan for implementation are summarized below. Click the mind map to expand it.


or the same map in an alternate color scheme.
 
 

 

The dreaded day has reached us in the United States.

On November 19, 2020, death 250,000 occurred in the United States.

On December 14, 2020, less than a month later, death 300,000 occurred in the United States. Current statistical models indicate that a new spike in coronavirus deaths is just starting.

Whether you have been vaccinated or not, had an episode of COVID-19 or not, or have high-risk factors that might make you susceptible to COVID-19 episodes in the future there are measures you can take to minimize your chances to get infected for the first time or a later recurrence.

Use a mask, socially distance, wash your hands, and use some COMMON SENSE. Everyone will need to keep doing all of these behavioral interventions for a currently unknown time.

The following diagram shows how we got to MORE THAN 300,000 DEATHS FROM COVID-19 in the USA.



 

300,000 souls should not have been lost. We could have avoided the wildfire of COVID-19 infections. We didn’t. 

Our highest priority should be for every person on the planet to work their hardest to make sure that COVID-19 transmission is slowed and then stopped.

To the lost family, friends, acquaintances, and those we will never know, we cherish your shortened lives and ask the Almighty Power that you rest in peace.

In the next 20 years, the world will experience significant change. After the shock of the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences, everyone alive knows that significant changes must be made in the next 20 years to our governments, distribution of services and wealth and opportunities. We must integrate all global development with a restoration of the global environment as it was before the industrial revolution.

It’s a hard job. The change itself will provide numerous opportunities. The creative destruction of what is wrong and the creative building of what is right will be fun to observe and participate in. Hope will spring out as we get a lot of the things right that we screwed up the first time.

Here’s what we gotta do. It’s possible. It will be fun and rewarding to fix.

Click on the mind map to expand the start of a plan and an emerging roadmap.

This is what we have to achieve this time. The inclusion of all. The distribution of services to all. A high-quality of life for all.

So you are flying home for the weekend. Fortunately I get to stay inside my condo and stay far, far away from you in a healthier universe.

Here is the visual form of the arguments of the day explaining how those who like to travel spread COVID around for the rest of us forcing retreat into the Star Wars, Star Trek, and football universes this weekend.

Click the image to expand.

Remember, even if you believe the airplane is safe due to air filtration (and it isn’t), there are one heck of a lot of those infected with COVID in the airplane terminals. And they come from all states and many foreign countries.

At least wear a mask and wash your hands. Maybe that will help you not bring your grandmother a very unwanted present.

The dreaded day has reached us in the United States.

250,000 deaths due to COVID-19.

We have vaccines coming soon. But WE DO NOT KNOW how long the immunity from the vaccines will last. We do not know if a sufficient number of Americans will agree to take the vaccination. And for those who have already been infected by COVID-19 and either had symptomatic or an asymptomatic episode, WE DO NOT KNOW what medical conditions those who have been infected with COVID will develop in the next 80 years. Some of the medical conditions of COVID-19 infection might only manifest themselves in a year or two or a decade or two or in six decades.

Whether you have been vaccinated or not, had an episode of COVID-19 or not, or have high risk factors that might make you susceptible to COVID-19 episodes in the future there are measures you can take to minimize your chances to get infected for the first time or a later recurrence.

Use a mask, socially distance, wash your hands and use some COMMON SENSE. Everyone will need to keep doing all of these behavioral interventions for a currently unknown time.

The following diagram shows how we got to A QUARTER OF A MILLION DEATHS FROM COVID-19 in the USA.

250,000 souls should not have been lost. We could have avoided the wildfire of COVID-19 infections. We didn’t. 

Our highest priority should be for every person on the planet to work their hardest to make sure that COVID-19 transmission is slowed and then stopped.

To the lost family, friends, acquaintances, and those we will never know, we cherish your shortened lives and ask the Almighty Power that you rest in peace.

As the assault of the pandemic contiunues unabated, I find that I am getting increasingly numb to the causes and the effects. Some call this pandemic fatigue. Others call it trauma. Or overstimulation or shutdown on sensitivity to the continuing clatter. Yeah, I know a vaccine is supposed to save us, but I am so screwed by up by thoughts of what it means that 250,000 souls have been lost in 10 months, I casnnot even envision what it will feel like when 500,000 have died, a marker I think we will hit before the US population has all be vaccinated.

NUMB. No Understanding of the Many Battles.

Why do we fight about whether to wear a mask? The scientific research unequivocally shows masks save lives (including that of the wearer). Will we fight in a few months whether to get vaccinated? Probably so many will refuse that the overall protection for all of our citizens will be limited.

Why do we fight about dealing with the economy? We have far too many people crushed by unemployment. We can create millions of useful jobs that would improve the infrastructure of the country.

Why do we ignore the mental health and psychological processes injured by the ongoing pandemic? I feel crummy from the pandemic, your family and friends do, and you do. We should be able to agree it is a high priority to repair the damage the pandemic is doing to all of us. And, make even more jobs to achieve this.

Why are we so divided as a society? We have brutual political divisions affecting the healthcare and financial systems. We have racism, the denial of equal opportunity, gender and sexual orientation bias, and many other problems that are growing almost as fast as the virus spread.

I am trying hard to get over my own feelings of being NUMB. Maybe you should also try to stop being NUMB.

Click on the image to expand it.