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Over 633,000. That is the number of people in the United States of America that have died to COVID-19. The quick vaccine roll out has provided Americans with hope and security. But the pandemic that has gone on for more than a year now is far from over. The new Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus has become the dominate strain and is far more infectious than the previous ones.
"What's in the vaccine?"
"I guess the vaccine isn't working if people are still getting sick."
As for what's in it, maaaaaan, I really don't care. If you're feeling sick and your doctor prescribes you with some meds, do you play twenty questions? I'm betting that's a no. But if you're still vaccine hesitant or don't want to get the jab at all, the least you can do is wear a mask. Masks not only protect others, they protect you as well. You probably don't think twice about half the stuff you put in your body.
Vaccines are not a cure. Yes, they grant you a great deal of protection but as I'm sure you've heard by now, no vaccine is 100% effective. But you drive with your seat belt on even though those things aren't 100% guaranteed to prevent serious or fatal injury during a car crash. Anything that can lower the risk of harm is something most people tend to be on board with.
I have never seen such a wide scale display of selfishness in my entire life. This deep into this crisis and the thing that still manages to astound me is the sheer level of selfishness that people wear like a badge of honor. The refusal to wear a mask or get vaccinated is being propped up behind freedom. Freedom has responsibilities and too many people have chosen to shirk those responsibilities in favor of living recklessly. In this case, that recklessness could get you or those around you sick, killed or both.
People's refusal to wear a mask or get vaccinated not only affects them, it affects everyone they come in contact with. We have well over 600K dead Americans and we still have people out there that can't think of anyone other than themselves. What is it gonna take for people to take this pandemic seriously? Do we have to have even more people die? Do you need to lose a loved one or a friend to wake up?
I lost my grandfather in December of last year to COVID. I've lost multiple family members to cancer but never to a virus that we could have gotten under control. He was 87 with no prior health conditions but somehow the coronavirus got into the nursing home he was living in. My grandfather had a warm voice. He could go on and on but it was so nice to hear from him. Whenever my mom would speak to him, he would always take some time to speak to me. I miss hearing that gentle tone he always spoke with.
People want to get back to normal but they don't want to do any of the work to achieve that normalcy. Piggy backing off people that have gotten vaccinated is not helping. The virus does not care about your age, your politics or your religion. It infects and kills people indiscriminately and it is very good at it.
As long as the virus is allowed to infect people, it will have more chances to mutate. The reason we even have the Delta variant is because we never eradicated the virus to begin with. Don't think that just because a variant is in another country that it won't make it's way here. The first Delta variant cases popped up in India and now, it is all over the USA. Borders don't mean anything to a virus.
When COVID-19 was first declared a pandemic, I had a feeling it could go on for quite some time, even a year or more. During my first week of lockdown, I read a few articles on the 1918 pandemic. Like this one, it last for more than a year. The 1918 pandemic killed 675,000 Americans when all was said and done. COVID-19 isn't even finished and it is frightening how close we are to that number.
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