Local COVID spike nothing like terrible summer of 2020
On one hand, in today’s pandemic world, you want to keep up with the COVID news; and on the other hand, sometimes you think, hiding one’s head in the sand sounds far more preferable.
If you can’t see the troubles around us, listen to all the noise, they don’t exist. That sort of mindset seems to be where more and more people are headed because today’s reality and our near future seem to be the cause of more and more mental illness and psychological trauma (Source: nature.com — “COVID’s mental-health toll.”)
Here is some rather obvious news from the Mayo Clinic (mayoclinic.org) titled “COVID-19 and your mental health:”
“The COVID-19 pandemic may have brought many changes to how you live your life, and with it, at times, uncertainty, altered daily routines, financial pressures and social isolation. You may worry about getting sick, how long the pandemic will last, whether your job will be affected and what the future will bring. Information overload, rumors and misinformation can make your life feel out of control and make it unclear what to do.”
That certainly describes a lot of us today. How is this all going to end? Will it end? When will it end? When will my stupid brother-in-law realize that COVID vaccines only make sense?
Approximately 90% of hospitalized COVID patients, including those dying in the ICU as their lungs collapse and their organs continue to shut down, include the unvaccinated.
Why some people remain blind to the correlation is a mystery to many.
More from the Mayo Clinic:
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, you may experience stress, anxiety, fear, sadness and loneliness. And mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression, can worsen.”
Hidalgo County’s sick
In Hidalgo County, as in the rest of the country, the odd paradox of the omicron variant (lineage) infecting more people while driving fewer to the hospital is a welcome change compared to the summer of 2020 when COVID was really taking the county, and in fact the rest of the country, by storm.
In mid-July 2020, the pre-vaccine era, there were 596 people who tested positive, versus 214 mid-December 2021, versus 442 this Monday, Jan. 10th.
The number of people hospitalized also tells a story.
On July 27, 2020, there were 903 people hospitalized, of whom 245 were in the ICU. In mid-December 2021, 59 Hidalgo County residents were hospitalized, with only 21 in the ICU of each respective hospital.
Fast forward to post-holiday season, Jan. 10, and the number of COVID patients in county hospital rooms was pegged at 178, with 45 lying in the intensive care units, including two children. Still a welcome change from the 903 hospitalized in the summer of 2020.
Despite the difference in hospitalizations and how many patients were stuck in the ICU over those three time periods, the total number of fatalities is striking in sheer number alone: from 467 COVID dead in Hidalgo County in July 2020 to 3,536 this Monday, Jan. 10. By anyone’s count, that is a lot of heartache.
In public schools, pre-Christmas vs. post-Christmas, and New Year’s, the number of local infected students and staff tell the tale of the omicron spread with regard to the risk of gathering together for family holidays:
On Dec. 15, 2021, there were 31 student COVID-19 positive cases vs. 133 Monday, Jan. 10. With regard to school staff, nine tested positive Dec. 15 vs. 33 this Monday.
In one month alone, however, mid-December to mid-January, the total number of infected school staff has increased from 841 to 1,532; almost double.
The student body has faired better in terms of percentage: from 4,387 to 5,318.
Of course, the numbers from the county’s health department remain skewed to some extent, because not everyone is getting tested for a variety of reasons. Meaning, the numbers — except for the deceased and the hospitalized — remain approximate because the number of infected people is actually higher than what is reported.
Still, looking at the overall numbers, omicron is infecting people at a faster clip, that’s true, but it’s driving fewer people to the hospitals. Mainly, because the new variant tends to stay planted in the upper airways as opposed to dropping down into the lower lungs, which caused more people to need artificial ventilation, which led to many deaths.
One of the worst scenarios facing all of us is the big what if. What if a variant surfaces that combines both the highly infectious nature of omicron and the relatively deadly nature of delta?
Turns out, this weekend in Cyprus, medical scientists announced that such a variant (a lineage) has already surfaced and approximately 25 patients have already tested positive for it. Where that goes from here, who knows.
While omicron may not cause as much serious disease (pathology) as delta, based on the sheer number of people now getting infected, hospital admissions in some parts of the country are already streaming over into the parking lot. Will that hit us here in Hidalgo County? Who knows. Good news is, South Texas includes some of the most vaccinated counties in the state per capita.
In fact, according to at least one survey (search online — vaccinated among the religious), Hispanic Catholics comprise the most COVID-19 vaccinated demographic among all religious groups in the U.S. The only vaccinated demographic beating them out are the atheists.
(Source: NY Post.)
The dead naysayers
What’s amazing is the number of people who continue to deny the serious nature of COVID-19 and eschew any and all advice to get vaccinated. Not only do they mock the advice to get one of the vaccines, they actually mock the entire proactive process. Then they catch the bug, and from their dying bed, ask for prayers.
The dead include socalled YouTube anti-vax stars, anti-vax podcasters, and also anti-vax conservative radio hosts. Every week, it seems, another one bites the dust.
The latest includes a podcaster by the name of Doug Kuzma. He died Jan. 3 after apparently catching COVID the weekend of Dec. 9 while attending a conservative rally near Dallas named “The Re-Awakening Tour.”
He still has some videos posted on YouTube from that same December event. What comes out of Kuzma’s mouth is amazing. He has God’s DNA in his system, and that sure beats anything the medical community came come up with, he says, while telling his audience that he suffers from chronic bronchitis.
Kuzma then gets off on another tangent, something about the Book of Revelation and how these times foretell the end times. His guests include other conspiracy like-minded people, all of whom have some product to peddle, whether it’s a book about how to prepare for the anti-Christ or some vitamins that will protect you from COVID.
Forbes published a story last fall that laid out some of the conservative radio and TV hosts who had died from the same disease they claimed was bogus. They included Denver-based radio host Bob Enyart who urged his listeners to boycott the vaccines, while vowing to never get the shot. Then he died.
Among the anti-vax ranks, those now deceased, according to Forbes, include: Dick Farrel, a Florida-based conservative radio host and Newsmax TV anchor who called COVID vaccines “bogus bullsh*t and called Dr. Fauci a “lying freak; “Mr. Anti-Vax” radio show host Marc Bernier, also based out of Florida, who said he would never get vaccinated, and then it was too late; Religious Broadcaster Jimmy DeYoung, Sr., out of Tennessee, who would often ask his listeners to agree that the virus and vaccines were forms of government control; and Phil Valentine, who was based out of Nashville, where he would use his radio mic to mock Democrat efforts to encourage people to get vaccinated. Then, too, he was dead.
Yet, before they died, almost all of these people were pumping up the benefits of the anti-parasite de-wormer Ivermectin.
Last week, a deputy district attorney, Kelly Ernby, based in Orange County, California, died at the relatively young age of 46 from COVID complications.
In December, Ernby was at a rally in California organized by a conservative group, Turning Post USA, where she told protesters that “There is nothing that matters more than our freedoms right now.”
All of this death and misery flies in the face of data from multiple medical sources that say the risk of developing a severe illness from COVID-19 is reduced by 90 percent or more among people who are fully vaccinated, which now includes the booster shot.
Still, the sad and stubborn news continues, like a freight train with no brakes headed downhill.
According to a story published by the U.S. Sun, 29-year-old Bridget Jackson, a mother of three, all under the age of 10, died from COVID-19-related complications late last month. She would frequently use Facebook (the go-to source for reliable COVID news) to speak out against mask mandates and the COVID vaccines.
In one of her posts, according to the Sun story, Jackson wrote: “Just because we don’t wear a mask doesn’t mean we lack common courtesy or don’t respect you. We simply believe your fear is your issue.”
The mother of three caught the virus in late November, posting a note on Facebook, asking friends for prayers and advice on how to do “lung exercises.”
Shortly before her death, Jackson posted: “COVID sucks.”
Indeed.