What did I miss?

 So, I don't really have time to blog anymore, but whatever. I'm here now, so let's take a look at where the numbers currently stand according to the NYT: 

Confirmed U.S. Cases: 8.5 million (they've started rounding to the nearest hundred thousand since I last posted) 

Confirmed U.S. Cases on October 23: 85,085 (a record)

Confirmed U.S. Deaths: 223,948

Confirmed World Cases: 42.2 million+

Confirmed World Cases on October 23: 499,200

Confirmed World Deaths: 1.1 million+

So. Over a million people have died. There are currently only 3 events since the signing of the Declaration of Independence that have killed more Americans: World War II, the Civil War, and the 1918 flu pandemic. In fact, the excess death numbers from the year show that as of now over 300,000 more people have died this year than in a normal year. While 2/3 are directly related to Covid, "In many cases, patients may have delayed seeking medical attention or going to the emergency room, either out of fear of contracting the virus or because medical care was not available."

Does anyone still think it's JUST THE FLUUUU??? oh wait. Of course someone does. 

That someone (along with several of his top aides, his wife, son, and several Republican senators) recently contracted the virus himself after holding meeting after meeting and event after event without masking or social distancing, including when he was announcing Amy Coney Barrett as his nomination to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. And after receiving several experimental treatments and thousands of dollars of top-notch medical care at taxpayer expense, the lesson the President seems to have learned is "this is no big deal." So now he's back to holding packed rallies of largely maskless supporters. 

For anyone who agrees with the president and is unconcerned for the over 200,000 Americans who have lost their lives to this disease, I would urge you to read about the long-haulers, the "at least 10 percent of people — and possibly many more —" who "may continue to have symptoms for at least two months after infection." You can also read about this 12-year-old girl, whose story was recently chronicled in the New York Times, particularly if you are a person who has children and has waved away the dangers of this virus to young people. If you combine 10% of 8.5 million with over 200,000 dead, that's over a million Americans facing either death or long-term disability because of this. Currently.

I say currently, because the numbers are only going to go up, in spite of a smaller proportion of people who contract the disease dying compared to earlier in the pandemic, because the number of people infected has gone so precipitously up lately.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I laid out the reasoning that this was a deadly virus, that spread easily even from people who had no symptoms, which we had very limited ability to treat and very little data on its long-term effects. Based on that, in May, I echoed the nation's public health professionals and said we should stay home and stay safe. Wash your hands. Wear a mask in public and stay as far from people in public as you can. 

Nothing has changed that has changed my mind about these prescriptions. I plan to not participate in Halloween this year. I plan to make this the first year since 2012 that I do not cook for and invite my family to my house on Thanksgiving. I plan not to see my parents or my brother or my friends anywhere other than a screen for the rest of the year, and a significant chunk of next year. The risks are too great, the consequences are too devastating, the guilt would be too much for me to live with if I infected someone I love. I will go on strike, as I imagine many more in the CTU would, were all teachers ordered to come back into the school buildings before it is safe. Missing one year of some of my favorite things to do and not seeing some of my favorite people is a price worth paying to get to see them all again for all the rest of the years I hope to live. 

So please, for the three people still reading this, go vote. My wife and I did today. It is the first step in getting our country to a better place. Help end our national crisis. And please, wear a mask, wash your hands, and spend as little time within six feet of people who don't live in your house as possible.