A talking head on CNN conducted a poll on whether a person should pay more for health insurance if they have not taken the vaccine. The hospitalization costs can be more than any heart surgeries. Thousands of Covid 19 patients have hospital bills of hundreds of thousands to over a million dollars.

            If a person has health insurance and the company picks up most of the tab, it will need to recoup that loss by raising the premiums on the rest of that pool. Additionally, the number one reason for bankruptcy in America is medical bills. Who pays if insurance and the patient don’t? Tax payers do. It could be through Medicare or Medicaid but the tax payers are to pick up the tab for people not getting the shot.

            If I have insurance and have high blood pressure I will pay more than someone with normal pressure. If my occupation or hobby is dangerous I will pay more. Why shouldn’t some stupid person who refuses to take a shot to keep them and others from costing the rest of us money be liable in some way? Maybe they are the link in a chain that kills someone.

            I am tired of hearing the absolutely stupid and inane reasons for not getting the vaccine. How stupid does a person have to be to think the vaccine has GPS transmitters in it or sterilization, or genetic destruction, or some other wild unbelievable reason? Oh, of course, the Trump sycophants seem to forget Trump had the virus and still demanded the shot before he left the White House. The poll was 91% yes to 9% no.

            I didn’t catch the name of the doctor who was saying the virus suppression had become political to the detriment of all of us. He explained the more unvaccinated people that get it the more likely it will mutate into a strain that will overcome the current vaccine. The Delta is more easily transmitted and attacks younger people than Alpha which hit in 2019. Lamda ,which originated in unvaccinated Brazil, is more dangerous and may be able to crack the current vaccine causing boosters to be needed.

            Why are the far right people telling people lies and spreading distrust of the Biden administration’s effort to save lives? The idea is to try to damage Biden’s effort for getting people vaccinated. If they can keep the hospitals and funeral homes full they think it will damage Biden’s popularity. Those people don’t care about the stupid and ignorant suckers who follow their advice.

            Today Senator Rand Paul actually told his people to not get a shot or wear a mask to show their personal liberty. When those people die so he can raise his popularity it is called cannon fodder. Go forward to die so the General can win the battle. Those people will die so he can make his run for President.

            Some time ago a writer who often writes in with support for Trump and anti-science wrote that the people of India were using Regeneron drug to not get the virus. Experts and studies have shown it has minimum help to treat the symptoms after a patient gets Covid. Remember Trump said he was taking it and still got it. Massive doses of experimental monoclonal anti-bodies saved him which was not available to the rest of us.   

            The numbers of reported deaths in India are only those who died in a hospital and not at home or on the street. Since the poor have been told vaccines will give them the virus they use other methods fit for the anti-vacciners here. They wrap themselves in the Hindu religious icons. No, they don’t wrap themselves in sacred cowhides but are told to drink the cow’s urine and smear themselves with cow dung. I bet that does a lot for social distancing!

            So to those anti-vacciners in our country who think the vaccine will give them the virus or a micro-GPS chip, or some other stupid conspiracy idea, I suggest they follow the Indian way by pulling the BS out of here heads and smearing it on themselves. Get vaccinated for yourself, your family, and the rest of humanity. Every individual must decide if they are going to help save humanity or be the Petri dish creating a new strain to kill people.

            I got the shot twice, one in each arm! Supposedly there is a smaller chance of a reaction if the shot goes into each arm. Few people get any reaction to the Pfizer vaccine. I may have gotten a rash in an area a bathing suit covers. I don’t know if I was overly tired the day after because I did a lot of digging which I am not accustomed to doing.

            People get a reaction to many vaccinations, foods, and environments. People take a vaccine with a tiny potential chance of a slight reaction to avoid the probability of a big reaction to the disease. Most people run their lives that way. They buy insurance for their home, car, and for their families, even life insurance. Getting a Covid shot is offering some insurance against getting sick. Getting the second shot and maybe a booster is full insurance.

            Nation after nation thought it had herd immunity revising its rules only to find the new variants are worse. Since the seniors are mostly vaccinated, the mutations are going after young adults and kids.

            People who are not yet vaccinated risk their life, those around them, and people they never met. The virus may decide to mutate in their body into something the vaccines won’t give them or the vaccinated protection.

            People talk about patriotism but aren’t brave enough to get two shots? Don’t wrap yourself in the flag when you can’t take two painless shots.

            I was watching an interview with Bill Gates on the Covid 19 virus and the vaccines. He became an expert on vaccines when his foundation donated over 600 million to Rotary International to eradicate polio.

            What was thoughtful was when the interviewer asked about the 400,000 dead by spring and then asked about being the last one to die from Covid 19. I used to know the name of the last American who died moments before the WWI Armistice. A soldier had the “Honor” of being designated the last one to die in the European theater and another for the Pacific theater in WWII. I don’t know if they designed someone for Korea or Viet Nam.

            Millions of people aren’t wearing a mask and very likely one of them will somehow have that “honor”. At what point will the war be won? Just as Bush II said on an aircraft carrier; the Iraq War was won. Some would say it hasn’t yet ended.

            People will not suddenly stop dying from it and maybe it will never be completely eradicated and all of us protected. When will normality come back?

            Who will be the last to drown in their own fluids because they didn’t wear a mask or get a shot? Some are dying while still believing it is just a hoax. Will one of the hoax-believers be the last?

           What have we learned about the Pandemic? We have learned a great deal from experiences that we have forgotten from the Spanish Flu a century ago, from experiments, and scientific research.

            A century ago we separated ourselves from others and isolated communities from each other. Closing schools, restaurants and churches was one way to reduce or eliminate the infections. Sound familiar?

            Sweden’s political leadership thought herd immunity was the easiest and most economical way to get through the wave. Without masks, social distancing, and lockdowns, Sweden has the highest rate of infection and death in the world. Sound familiar?

            We can now see the virus, we can examine its DNA, and we can make and replicate vaccines. Anecdotal evidence shows how easily it is spread through the air and how long it can live outside the body. We know how to stop its spread with little effort. We know some service businesses will be adversely affected and the government can offset the loss of revenue and job loss.

            If we now know all of this information why are we in such a mess? People are not wearing masks and social distancing. The state and federal governments aren’t enforcing commonsense rules and reimbursing workers. Combating social media and Fox Network’s effort to undermine efforts to control the virus should be the administration’s and Congress’ responsibility. It equates to yelling fire in a theater – which is illegal. Governments can not do it all. Most of eradicating the virus and saving thousands of lives lies with individuals being responsible. Sadly too many Americans no longer have responsibility in their character. Unfortunately, that is also sounding more familiar.

            Forrest Gump’s Mother told him “Stupid is as stupid does.” And today is no different. Several Republican governors and Trump criticized Democrats and the administration’s scientists for pushing mask wearing. Now those governors are pleading and mandating masks. When their stupid supporters are lying dead in hospital hallways, morgues, and refrigerator trailers, they decided it was time to stop being stupid.

            People are criticizing Governor Pritzker for his efforts to save Illinois citizens, but he has been where Republican governors are now going. Now Republican governors are telling people to wear a mask to save not only themselves, but their families, friends, co-workers, and people they just pass by. Healthy people of all ages are going into hospitals one day and dying the next with their families dying in the next few days. Imagine not showing symptoms and infecting your parents, siblings, and children, then having to plan funerals for all of them. It has happened hundreds of times. “Stupid is as stupid does.”