A bit more on COVID

If you recall, I started this series as a way of detailing how things that could have always contributed to the need for emergency preparedness were getting worse. They were...

• more extreme weather due to climate change
• more attacks on government and infrastructure due to white supremacy
• more work force loss due to COVID deaths and disability
  

Working on your emergency preparedness is an obvious thing to do. There are things that have changed and I can write about that, but the main thing keeps feeling like our hearts. Maybe that is more obvious with COVID.

I can tell you to wear your masks; I believe I have. We can talk about things like improving ventilation and practicing social distancing. Doing things outside is going to get easier as we get into warmer weather, but do we even care?

You can argue that it's not about caring. Right now I know a family with multiple COVID cases because with people visiting Grandma, one of the visitors had been exposed. He knew, but he didn't say anything. Is that because he didn't care, or because he just didn't believe that COVID was real or that it was anything worse than a cold?

My first thought there -- besides hoping that everyone recovers -- is remembering an awful cold I had several years ago. Even a regular cold can be pretty miserable, but that one that lasted a month, and brought on a secondary pneumonia infection. Even when the antibiotics cleared up the pneumonia and I could lie down without suffocating again, I still had a miserable cold for the rest of the month. 

I would not wish that on anyone, and it could potentially kill an elderly person.

But of course, at the start of COVID there were people deciding that losing seniors was worth it.

I remember at the start I was frustrated how so many things were pulling us in the wrong direction. For example, locally we had just passed rules to limit use of plastic bags. Suddenly there was the concern of the reusable bags spreading the virus, so that went out the window. Also, there were really good reasons for avoiding each other, but it felt awful.

But then, we did things that were better. More people were working remotely and it allowed more people with disabilities to participate in the work force. More restaurants created take-out options. New flexibility was permitted. The government gave people money and children were doing better.

Now we're doing away with all that.

Yes, I still wear a KN95 mask. I do it to protect others and to set a good example and to stand for what I believe is important.

It feels alienating to see so many who don't. It feels more alienating because I know how closely that was tied in with Trump support.

It feels alienating at church.

Did we decide that, since masks are more effective at protecting others from us than protecting us from others, that it's not worth it?

I do not want to cause any harm.

I could have it much worse. I still can go out, and I feel reasonably safe, although the immunity issues that come with diabetes could make for complications if I do get infected.

There are many others, including cancer patients and people with autoimmune disorders and children too young for vaccines and elderly, who are at much worse risk. Their social and travel options are limited. Now the old job limitations are coming back, because on a societal level we are more interested in controlling than helping. 

The general message being sent is that we don't care.

Let them die now and decrease the surplus population! But what if they just get disabled?

In one of the other posts I had referenced it being right to do something even if it is too late.

We do not always know how much good we can accomplish. If we can help some other people, though, if we save one starfish, or even if we only keep our own heart soft and humble, that is worth doing.

Yes, wear your mask, but it is so much more than that.

This is probably going to be a very serious year, but I will post about something easy next week.

Things to watch out for: COVID

It has been three years and six million, eight hundred seventy-three thousand, four hundred seventy-seven deaths.

https://covid19.who.int/

I wrote that out because it is easy to just glance over the numbers, and perhaps ignore them.

That's not the whole story either, though. If all of that had happened back in 2020, and now it was over, that would be different. Also, any global data can feel vast enough to not quite register. 

If it helps, last week the United States lost 1706 people to Covid. Oregon lost 54. In Washington County, 4.1% of those in hospital beds are confirmed Covid cases.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

That is a lot better than it has been, but that is also a number that has fluctuated. Covid comes in different waves as different variants develop with different properties.

It is still real, it does still kill people, and as the declared emergency ends there will be fewer resources, even as we see that most precautions were rolled back some time ago. There are even some at work trying to stop voluntary precautionary measures, like New York City mayor Eric Adams asking that people remove masks in stores to prevent shoplifting. 

And yet, this is mostly stuff that I have written about before; why is it a new thing to watch out for?

The first one is a growing awareness of the long-term neurological effects.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brain/a-third-of-covid-survivors-suffer-neurological-or-mental-disorders-study-idUSKBN2BT2ZI

Yes, expect to see more people with anxiety and depression. Some of that could be the stress of the world in itself, but some of it could also be the toll having the disease takes. 

That by itself would be bad enough, but there is also an increased risk of death for 18 months since the time of infection:

https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/covid-19-patients-retain-elevated-risk-of-death-for-at-least-18-months-after-inf 

The tendency toward clotting can explain stroke deaths and that had been known. This article focuses on cardiovascular disease and all of the ways that can lead to sudden death. Apparently atrial fibrillation (and strokes) had an elevated risk for a shorter period of time. The risk of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, heart failure, and deep vein thrombosis lasts longer.

There is some frightening anecdotal evidence of multiple Covid infections leading to early-onset dementia.

But actually, when I was starting working on this, I was mainly thinking about long Covid symptoms including Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

https://www.improvediagnosis.org/publications/improvedx-january-2022/understanding-me-cfs-and-long-covid-as-post-viral-conditions/

Because while the percentage lost from the work force through death is significant, the percentage lost through disability will be higher.

That does affect many individuals and families on a personal level, but on a broader level that is going to affect the workforce, and that is going to affect supply chains.

We have seen that before, early in the pandemic, but the direction we are heading in can only see that get worse.

These are the sort of problems that compound.

Early in the pandemic when hospital beds were full, it worsened health for others as it caused delays in treatment, and increased risk of picking up another infection while being treated.

Last year, as monkey pox started making headlines, there was a feeling of "What else now?"

How about leprosy?

https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/sri-lanka-was-winning-its-battle-leprosy-until-covid-19

Part of treating leprosy early is that it can prevent contagion as well as later disability. The time lost in Sri Lanka is going to have rippling effects.

It won't be leprosy here, but can we believe that a cavalier disregard for the health and welfare of others, fueled by capitalistic greed and deeply ignorant and hateful political bias...

Is there any reason to believe that would not cause significant harm?

Again, in my early conception of this series, it was going to be more of a reminder of getting in your food storage and looking ahead to buy other items and fill prescriptions early, so that supply chain issues cannot hurt you so much.

That is personal and family preparedness, and I believe in it, but as more comes into view we really need to all be helping each other.

A bit more on white supremacist violence

If paramilitary groups working toward a white nationalist state take out power stations, a lot of the things that you need to do will be similar to the post two weeks ago:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-bit-more-on-weather.html

You may not have to worry as much about cold or impassable roads, but a lot of the elements are the same.

There are still some things worth noting.

First of all, will they always identify as white supremacists?

No. They may be focusing on misogyny, like the Proud Boys, or building their own Christian-fascist state, like Dominionists. Accelerationists just want to hasten the end of everything.

I focus on the white supremacy not only because I really hate racism, but because even when the racism is not their stated focus, it always seems to be lurking in the background. That is not a coincidence.

I read somewhere that once you start getting into conspiracy theories they all lead to anti-Semitism. That is largely because so many of the prevailing theories go back to blood libel and the Rothschilds and the other lies that have been told for decades. I think, though, that once you start going down that path, turning your back on truth and caring, it starts going downhill fast.  

In terms of protecting yourself from this type of violence, yes, being more informed could help. I could write posts about how to do that, or how to evaluate news coverage and pay attention to the prevailing currents around you. 

A more useful post might be how to avoid getting drawn into conspiracy theories and isolationist sectarianism and white supremacy. I could end up writing about all of those things.

What is more important to me now -- and it is heading in the direction of protecting you from giving into the conspiracy-driven hate -- is building community.

Last week I referenced Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America by Kathleen Belew, and currently I am reading Sisters In Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism by Seyward Darby. I am reading it largely because of things I read in Belew's book about the role that women played in building community.

Granted, that's a racist community, where there are tips about Nazi appropriate home school materials and creating disguises for the men to commit crimes, but it is also organizing potlucks and helping to fix up white men and white women so they can create more white babies and prevent the replacement of the white race.  

Yes, potlucks can be used for evil.

If you have seen Higher Learning (1995), you may recall the character of Remy, an awkward freshman in college. Without the other students being really cruel to him, the first people that made him feel really accepted and valuable were the Skinheads. That started him down the path to his own death, as well as Deja's.

Of course, that is just a movie, but it is not uncommon to hear from people leaving these hate groups that they were disconnected and lonely and found acceptance there. Part of that acceptance becomes saying terrible things, because that will get you approval. Then it leads to doing terrible things.

We should do what we can to stop climate change, whether it's hopeless or not.

We should also be doing what we can to combat hate. We should be looking out for those who may have difficult family situations, and be patient with those who are socially awkward.

And we should not be repeating things that are racist or sexist, or smiling awkwardly when other people say them, or laughing at bigoted humor. 

Will there be people who turn out to be horrible and you can't have much influence? Doubtless, but I believe that if we will keep our eyes and hearts out for those whom we can help, we will find them. The Spirit can help with that.

An excellent starting point may be working with others trying to do good. Who is looking out for the unhoused, or the elderly, or the students who are struggling in school.

We meet people outside of our regular circles, and we unite in a good cause.

Doesn't that sound like something we should be doing?

Things to watch out for: White supremacist violence

Allow me to re-emphasize that part of why I am focusing on these three areas: they are easy to ignore. 

There have been years of people disputing the science of climate change, even though that often involved outright lies. It has been similar to what happened with the tobacco industry burying their studies that showed smoking was hazardous to health. They had a vested interest in hiding that information, because it would have affected profits.

Profit is not the only motivation. When there is something else causing damage, it is often racism.

The news media being less responsible does not help, so that is something we are going to have to remember as well.

Now, you might have seen the title and imagined things like a someone shooting up an Asian-American owned massage parlor or someone yelling at women wearing hijab on public transportation, but also being ready to kill. 

Those are real things, with real fatalities, but it could still be easy to hear about it and feel terrible but still feel that it is unlikely to affect you.

Regardless, I am referring to something different.

For example, did you know that on Christmas Day 2020 there was an explosion in downtown Nashville that damaged several blocks of businesses?

Did you know that Christmas Day 2022 there was an attack on the Washington State power grid?

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2020/12/25/downtown-nashville-explosion-christmas/4044635001/

https://www.kptv.com/2023/01/04/feds-reveal-motive-behind-washington-power-grid-attacks-christmas-day/

And, did you know that the Washington attack was one of at least nine attacks on electrical substations over a three month period?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/us/electrical-substation-attacks-nc-wa.html

The Nashville explosion was not an attack at an electrical substation. However, it was a bomb planted near an AT&T location that seemed designed to take out infrastructure.

The reporting has been downplayed; a motor home explosion with no fatalities. It is easy to imagine someone was cooking meth and something went wrong, even if you did hear of it, and your power stayed on, and your phones kept working. 

It was a motor home, set to explode with recorded warnings (and some possible human traces found later).

It goes back to it getting worse. Nine or more attacks in three months is a lot.

So far there has been no mention of white supremacy. In fact, the KPTV article says that the motivation was robbery. Well, that could be true; when the white separatist movement really started taking off post-Vietnam, they did a lot of robberies, but they were doing them to fund the movement.

The other thing they started doing really well is that while they were connected to each other and helping and teaching each other, technically when they did something it was generally "acting alone", at least to outward appearances.

Timothy McVeigh claimed to be acting alone, or to have only coerced some help, but there are other elements there that indicate that was a lie.

That pattern, as well as attacks on infrastructure, have a guidebook out there in a 1978 novel called The Turner Diaries. I am not recommending that you read it, but I am recommending knowing that there are people who do want to burn it all down. It's nice that they often look incompetent, like on January 6th, but they can still manage to do quite a bit of damage, and it is getting worse.

I can recommend reading Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America by Katherine Belew. While it focuses on the 80s and 90s, there will be patterns that you notice as you start seeing other things.

And you should start paying attention to those other things.