I seriously cannot read the “T” name w/o nausea and thinking 550K deaths
…because he was too chicken shit to report the truth from our cherished WH.
Thank God we had SarahCPR to pull us thru while we Lysoled our living and bedrooms, our shoe bottoms when we went out, stocked up on any toilet paper around and canned tunas…sardines…crackers, hand sanitized our paws raw to an age we never thought possible….and masks!
On day one we happened to be at autozone and hanging on an isle zip hanger was pkgs of N95 4pcs > $5.
Did no one notice?
Did they forget to rip them off the hangers!
2 pks out the door with a gal of syn oil!
S C O R E!
And then the shaming since I sew….from a close friend living in WA. WHY ARENT YOU MAKING MASKS!!!!! Healthcare professionals need you. OF course designing from the garment industry for 25 yrs, I knew LA garment industry had stepped up. But the maddening thoughts…
I shouldn’t go outside
I cant socialize
people are dying - and this bastard is fucking with the truth, YET again.
I wear my mask at work (since March of last year), and have to remind customers to either get theirs on or give them one.
I am fully vaccinated now, and I'm still wearing one, because where I live we're having a surge in cases and deaths. I've survived because I damn well never trusted Trump one inch and when he said it would 'be over soon' to hit the panic button.
I, too, watched in horror as so many people died from this, because shortly (4 months) before the virus hit us so hard, my husband died of pneumonia, because why not, just to give me a very strong taste of what hell on earth was going to look like.
I am sorry that we had to lose so many people because they trusted a con man who couldn't give a shit less about them.
I don't care what your politics are, couldn't care less who you voted for, and neither does the virus. Wear the damn mask, and wear it properly, for heaven's sake!
Over your nose, and stop giving me excuses. This is why I'm still here and so are you!
That little piece of cloth is a lifesaver, and don't you ever not believe it!
Great column, and am so glad you and Tracy are still here!
I too, continue to wear my mask. 2x BC survivor so things are a little risky. I have given way to walking my dog around my neighborhood without wearing the mask, although I keep it on me at all times. The anti-vaxxers and the people getting one shot, well, we will never reach herd immunity. They’re too ignorant and stupid to figure that out.
The people who STILL refuse to wear a mask indoors in crowded places should be punished by means more serious than dirty looks. And those fucking fools who STILL refuse to be vaccinated should be subject to severe punishments: stiff fines, loss of their jobs, their children not allowed to attend schools. They should be treated as total pariahs, unwelcome everywhere. They are potential mass murderers.
I thank my son-in-law for convincing me very early just how bad this was going to be. I did not leave my building from March 7 to June 9. I wore me mask when I went downstairs to get my mail. I also have a lung condition. I knew ofmthem virus struck, it would be a death sentence. I am glad to know, as I got my 2nd shot of 2/4, that I can be outside without wearing my mask, but it will be with me. I still will not take unnecessary chances.
VARIANTS!!! The data is not out there re: protection from variants NOR do they know how long the immunity lasts from the vaccine (and not everybody will convert following vaccinations...) tRump and his hench people all got vaccinated before leaving the WH. Too bad he was too chicken shit to admit it to his “fine people.” Well, take comfort: the Repugs are FINALLY going to get a small taste of a theory they love to mouth, even when they don’t understand it. “Survival of the fittest” won’t include those stupidly avoiding vaccinations. The crime is that they will spread disease, and for that, they should be prosecuted.
This is a great column, Lucian. The thought of all the people who might still be alive if they’d had a president who could open his mouth without lying will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Scary thought...if Orange Foolius had attacked COVID-19 early on he might still be POSOTUS.
I was on a Holland America Grand South America and Antarctica cruise from January to March 20 last year. Watched the chaos on the BBC and MSNBC as things worsened. We left Brazil and the Amazon just in time, those poor folks have a Trump clone in charge and are still paying the price.
I'm fully vaccinated as of almost 4 weeks ago. I wear my mask (at this point I've got quite a selection) except when at home (I live alone) or when out walking in the woods with my dog -- even then I've got a mask in my hip pocket in case I stop to chat with another walker or cyclist. At the very beginning I wasn't too worried -- I was 68 at the time but in good health and figured that if I got it, I'd recover. Also I live in a small town, and as a freelance editor I've been working from home for more than two decades.
It didn't take long to learn that Covid-19 was a wild card; when it struck hard, it could be lethal or very long-lasting. (I've got friends dealing with chronic Lyme disease, which some medicos say doesn't exist, and I've seen how it's turned their lives inside out.) That Covid was air-borne seemed plausible from the get-go, but once I heard about that chorus rehearsal in Washington State it was a no-brainer.
I don't really understand why so many USians resist taking it seriously. Is it entirely about bad information and/or malignant Trumpism? I suspect it goes deeper, to an individualism that doesn't acknowledge that, as the poet said, none of us are islands, we're all "part of the main." No wonder they don't take climate change seriously either.
This reminds me so much of our 9/11 stories and experiences. Last February, when we heard that very first pronouncement and then were just learning about the cruise ship passengers, dear friends who live in Flatonia, TX suddenly got word that their daughter who lived in Colorado was dying. They made an emergency flight to be with her in her last moments. None of us knew then that Colorado would soon see its own surge of Covid. When they returned home, they planned a memorial service for her in Halletsville, which is home to several nursing homes (as well as other small towns in that area.) Friends from San Antonio, Austin and elsewhere planned to carpool to the service. But like you, with my own age and "underlying conditions," I began to think about what exactly that trip would entail: sitting in an enclosed vehicle for more than two hours coming and going with friends who were still attending church services in their own locales and then sitting in a church with many strangers who came from distant towns. By then, the first "official" Texas case had been identified - it was a person near Flatonia. San Antonio was now beginning to reel from its own surge. So, I opted to stay home. There were no masks available in my town and toilet paper had been raided from every single source - even Amazon had no toilet paper. So, I began to make cloth masks for my friends in exchange for a roll of toilet paper, or just for nothing at all. By then, it was March 14 and news had "leaked" out to all of us that this WAS a pandemic and that we had all been lied to. So, that is the official date that I began my year+ long self-incarceration. I ventured out only for curbside pickup at the local grocery, curbside at the local vet, and to see my doctor. He had instituted strict protocols himself. One had to arrive no earlier than 10 minutes and wait outside the locked clinic. An aide would come out and take one's temperature. If none, then we were escorted inside and to a waiting room. The doctor would call us on our cell phones and ask all the normal questions over the phone. Then, for about 5 minutes (or less), he would enter and keep a good 10 feet between us while he finished the "exam." He later told me that these protocols had been adopted by the hospital with whom he was associated. He also told me that by masking, washing my hands (and all surfaces) and staying home, I had saved my own life. I suppose we all will have similar stories to tell. It's been a long year, but I am alive. And I discovered substack communities and new interests and created two art journals. So, there's that!
I seriously cannot read the “T” name w/o nausea and thinking 550K deaths
…because he was too chicken shit to report the truth from our cherished WH.
Thank God we had SarahCPR to pull us thru while we Lysoled our living and bedrooms, our shoe bottoms when we went out, stocked up on any toilet paper around and canned tunas…sardines…crackers, hand sanitized our paws raw to an age we never thought possible….and masks!
On day one we happened to be at autozone and hanging on an isle zip hanger was pkgs of N95 4pcs > $5.
Did no one notice?
Did they forget to rip them off the hangers!
2 pks out the door with a gal of syn oil!
S C O R E!
And then the shaming since I sew….from a close friend living in WA. WHY ARENT YOU MAKING MASKS!!!!! Healthcare professionals need you. OF course designing from the garment industry for 25 yrs, I knew LA garment industry had stepped up. But the maddening thoughts…
I shouldn’t go outside
I cant socialize
people are dying - and this bastard is fucking with the truth, YET again.
I hope theres a special place in hell.
I wear my mask at work (since March of last year), and have to remind customers to either get theirs on or give them one.
I am fully vaccinated now, and I'm still wearing one, because where I live we're having a surge in cases and deaths. I've survived because I damn well never trusted Trump one inch and when he said it would 'be over soon' to hit the panic button.
I, too, watched in horror as so many people died from this, because shortly (4 months) before the virus hit us so hard, my husband died of pneumonia, because why not, just to give me a very strong taste of what hell on earth was going to look like.
I am sorry that we had to lose so many people because they trusted a con man who couldn't give a shit less about them.
I don't care what your politics are, couldn't care less who you voted for, and neither does the virus. Wear the damn mask, and wear it properly, for heaven's sake!
Over your nose, and stop giving me excuses. This is why I'm still here and so are you!
That little piece of cloth is a lifesaver, and don't you ever not believe it!
Great column, and am so glad you and Tracy are still here!
I too, continue to wear my mask. 2x BC survivor so things are a little risky. I have given way to walking my dog around my neighborhood without wearing the mask, although I keep it on me at all times. The anti-vaxxers and the people getting one shot, well, we will never reach herd immunity. They’re too ignorant and stupid to figure that out.
The people who STILL refuse to wear a mask indoors in crowded places should be punished by means more serious than dirty looks. And those fucking fools who STILL refuse to be vaccinated should be subject to severe punishments: stiff fines, loss of their jobs, their children not allowed to attend schools. They should be treated as total pariahs, unwelcome everywhere. They are potential mass murderers.
I thank my son-in-law for convincing me very early just how bad this was going to be. I did not leave my building from March 7 to June 9. I wore me mask when I went downstairs to get my mail. I also have a lung condition. I knew ofmthem virus struck, it would be a death sentence. I am glad to know, as I got my 2nd shot of 2/4, that I can be outside without wearing my mask, but it will be with me. I still will not take unnecessary chances.
VARIANTS!!! The data is not out there re: protection from variants NOR do they know how long the immunity lasts from the vaccine (and not everybody will convert following vaccinations...) tRump and his hench people all got vaccinated before leaving the WH. Too bad he was too chicken shit to admit it to his “fine people.” Well, take comfort: the Repugs are FINALLY going to get a small taste of a theory they love to mouth, even when they don’t understand it. “Survival of the fittest” won’t include those stupidly avoiding vaccinations. The crime is that they will spread disease, and for that, they should be prosecuted.
This is a great column, Lucian. The thought of all the people who might still be alive if they’d had a president who could open his mouth without lying will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Scary thought...if Orange Foolius had attacked COVID-19 early on he might still be POSOTUS.
I was on a Holland America Grand South America and Antarctica cruise from January to March 20 last year. Watched the chaos on the BBC and MSNBC as things worsened. We left Brazil and the Amazon just in time, those poor folks have a Trump clone in charge and are still paying the price.
I'm fully vaccinated as of almost 4 weeks ago. I wear my mask (at this point I've got quite a selection) except when at home (I live alone) or when out walking in the woods with my dog -- even then I've got a mask in my hip pocket in case I stop to chat with another walker or cyclist. At the very beginning I wasn't too worried -- I was 68 at the time but in good health and figured that if I got it, I'd recover. Also I live in a small town, and as a freelance editor I've been working from home for more than two decades.
It didn't take long to learn that Covid-19 was a wild card; when it struck hard, it could be lethal or very long-lasting. (I've got friends dealing with chronic Lyme disease, which some medicos say doesn't exist, and I've seen how it's turned their lives inside out.) That Covid was air-borne seemed plausible from the get-go, but once I heard about that chorus rehearsal in Washington State it was a no-brainer.
I don't really understand why so many USians resist taking it seriously. Is it entirely about bad information and/or malignant Trumpism? I suspect it goes deeper, to an individualism that doesn't acknowledge that, as the poet said, none of us are islands, we're all "part of the main." No wonder they don't take climate change seriously either.
This reminds me so much of our 9/11 stories and experiences. Last February, when we heard that very first pronouncement and then were just learning about the cruise ship passengers, dear friends who live in Flatonia, TX suddenly got word that their daughter who lived in Colorado was dying. They made an emergency flight to be with her in her last moments. None of us knew then that Colorado would soon see its own surge of Covid. When they returned home, they planned a memorial service for her in Halletsville, which is home to several nursing homes (as well as other small towns in that area.) Friends from San Antonio, Austin and elsewhere planned to carpool to the service. But like you, with my own age and "underlying conditions," I began to think about what exactly that trip would entail: sitting in an enclosed vehicle for more than two hours coming and going with friends who were still attending church services in their own locales and then sitting in a church with many strangers who came from distant towns. By then, the first "official" Texas case had been identified - it was a person near Flatonia. San Antonio was now beginning to reel from its own surge. So, I opted to stay home. There were no masks available in my town and toilet paper had been raided from every single source - even Amazon had no toilet paper. So, I began to make cloth masks for my friends in exchange for a roll of toilet paper, or just for nothing at all. By then, it was March 14 and news had "leaked" out to all of us that this WAS a pandemic and that we had all been lied to. So, that is the official date that I began my year+ long self-incarceration. I ventured out only for curbside pickup at the local grocery, curbside at the local vet, and to see my doctor. He had instituted strict protocols himself. One had to arrive no earlier than 10 minutes and wait outside the locked clinic. An aide would come out and take one's temperature. If none, then we were escorted inside and to a waiting room. The doctor would call us on our cell phones and ask all the normal questions over the phone. Then, for about 5 minutes (or less), he would enter and keep a good 10 feet between us while he finished the "exam." He later told me that these protocols had been adopted by the hospital with whom he was associated. He also told me that by masking, washing my hands (and all surfaces) and staying home, I had saved my own life. I suppose we all will have similar stories to tell. It's been a long year, but I am alive. And I discovered substack communities and new interests and created two art journals. So, there's that!