Guess Who's Paid Me A Visit

 

Jeff–Saturday

 

The following paragraph is what I wrote two and a half years ago in introducing my then monthly Corona Chronicles column for Athens Insider Magazine:

 

“The last century had its ‘Roaring 20s,’ and I suppose someone will label this century’s third decade with a similarly catchy moniker tied to Covid-19. But it’s still too early to say for sure. We’re only four months into the first year of that decade, three months beyond the nascent worldwide acknowledgment of the pandemic, two months into a generally underplayed game of catch-up, and a month into watching infections and deaths skyrocket.”

 

We’ve all been through a lot in the years since then, including the various stages of personal denial that come from overconfidence at how we’ve successfully negotiated Covid-laden national and international venues without so much as a sniffle—fully vaccinated and boostered, of course. 

 

But, alas. Guess what.  That spiky little golf ball is out there waiting to tee-off on us the moment we give it the chance.

 

For example—just in case you can’t tell where this post is headed–I’m the tough guy who survived two masked summers packing into loaded Greek ferry boats, sitting aboard crowded nine-hour flights, and walking down countless cramped Manhattan and Mykonos streets. Surviving one close encounter after another, while friends and family with us proved not as lucky at missing the isolation experience…and all that comes with it.

 

Deep within myself I somehow came to believe that the world was ready to emerge, and it was (obviously) safe to go with the flow.  What I missed was that the key word in that revelation... emerge…means to go out from.

 

Mistakenly, I felt it safe to go inside.  Bad move.  Covid is waiting for the cool weather to bring us all closer, because closely bunched targets are easier to hit.  So, whether it be an indoor Texas-size celebration or an intimate Manhattan dining soiree, Covid is waiting for us to drop our guard.  Don’t take the bait, stay masked and socially distanced.  If you still contract the disease, take Paxovid or whatever other drug medical science has blessedly made available to battle this scourge.  Including appropriate vitamins.

 

I’ve just finished my five-day run of Paxlovid, and am feeling as fine as one could confined by Covid, and targeted by those pesky routine country-life allergens that always seem to find me at this time of year. 

 

Bottom line, I’m doing fine, but if there were a soundtrack to this story, it would be a relentless hacking cough.  Something I’ve come to realize is a sort of the battle cry for we new guys who never thought we’d ever become part of the “sooner or later everyone’s going to get Covid” crew.

 

I don’t even want to think of what could have happened were I not fully vaccinated and boostered.  Stay alert, stay strong, stay safe.

 

Oh, there was an upside to my isolation—aside from being lovingly tended to by my still fully healthy and negative testing Barbara (puh, puh, puh).

 

I finished a relatively polished “first draft” of my most complex CI Andreas Kaldis novel yet– both from a plotting and subject matter perspective.  Or so it seems through my Covid induced haze.

 

–Jeff

 

Jeff’s upcoming events

 

Friday, November 18, 2002 @11am

ICELAND NOIR

Reykjavik, Iceland

Where is My Mind? Madness and Obsession
AUTHORS:  Louise Mangos, Paul Cleave, Jeff Siger, Thomas Fecchio
MODERATOR: Ewa Sherman

COVID DISPARITIES ARE GLOBAL

 Kwei--Wednesday

COVID-19 has exposed deep-seated health inequities

Established disparities in American health care have been widely exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple levels. 

Deaths: Pacific Islander, Latino, Indigenous and Black Americans all have a COVID-19 death rate of double or more that of White and Asian Americans, who experience the lowest age-adjusted rates. 

Hospitalizations: Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people were roughly five times higher than that of White people in 2020.

Testing: Testing sites in and near predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods are likely to face greater demands than those in predominantly White areas, contributing to longer waits. There are also increased travel times to testing sites for people of color. 

Vaccinations: As of March 1, 2021, CDC data show that among US vaccinated subjects in whom race/ethnicity was known, Whites have received the lion's share of full vaccinations so far.

(CDC Data)

In Georgia, 69% of vaccinations were received by White people, while they make up 52% of the population, and in Nevada, nearly two-thirds (63%) of people who have been vaccinated are White, while they make up less than half (48%) of the total state population.

Global imbalance 

But if you think the US is the only country plagued with such disparities, think again. It has been occurring in other parts of the world, but the criteria of privilege may not run along the same lines as in this country. Elsewhere, it's often a case of income and influence--"whom you know." In Ghana, a well-off someone I know called up eighteen of his closest relatives to instruct them to show up at the family home for a session of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccinations administered by a privately hired nurse, all necessary paperwork provided. 

As early as April, 2020, Russia's elites were given first crack at the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccination. 

While these reports are within countries, the world as a whole reflects the imbalances as well. In this map showing the progress of vaccinations globally from December 2020 to March 15, 2021, the gaps in vaccination are quite clear: parts of Central Asia and the continent of Africa are sadly lacking.

In the world's battle against microbes, including SARS-COV-2, it is important to remember that no one is safe until everyone is safe. In typical shortsighted and selfish fashion, the developed countries will probably forget this. Covax is part of the collaborative effort of the WHO and Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT)-Accelerator, which brings together governments, scientists, businesses, civil society, and philanthropists and global health organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to make distribution of vaccines equitable worldwide. It's under Covax that Ghana and other African countries have received their shipment of vaccines. Ironically, Bill Gates is still a favorite target of conspiracy lore surrounding COVID-19 in Africa and all over the world. 

In the midst of all this inequality, alarming European trends in COVID-19 spread in the midst of vaccine inefficiencies show us that, along with the rise of virus variants, SARS-CoV-2 isn't done with us yet.