The strongest weapon we have against pandemic is telling the truth.
I continue rounding on my other COVID patients, recalling an article that I’d just read about how coronavirus didn’t affect the 17,000 children infected with it in Florida because coronavirus doesn’t affect children.
“COVID doesn’t affect children.” You may want to rethink that.
Naturally I tend to focus on infection numbers where I live. The 17,000 number in Florida shocked me so I went online to verify the number.
But these figures continue on the rise. According to state data released by the Florida Department of Health, Florida has tested 173,520 state residents under the age of 18 for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Of those tests, the number has gone up from 17,000 reported last Friday to 23,170 tests that came back positive.
UPDATED: More Than 23,000 Children Have Tested Positive for COVID-19 in Florida
I was wrong. The number of children infected with Covid-19 in Florida is higher than 17,000. I wish I had more cheerful news on this Sunday but the truth must be told. We all need to cut through the noise to see the truth.
After a unanimous vote at a commissioner’s meeting to make masks mandatory, residents of Palm Beach County in Florida erupted in anger, which included threatening to arrest a doctor for “crimes against humanity” for their vote. Two Twitter accounts — BadMedicalTakes and BadCOVID19Takes – a YouTube study, and Facebook posts promoting bogus COVID-19 cures highlight some of the public health misinformation being spread on social media platforms. The political nature of wearing face masks for public health safety has resulted in misinformation about their effectiveness. Those who wrongly believe face masks have detrimental respiratory effects are interfering with the ability to scale our nation’s public health response. During this unprecedented time of dealing with a viral outbreak and its economic effects on such a large scale, our nation should be experiencing strong unity in championing public health safety measures. Instead, the decision to wear a mask outside the home is influenced by gender, political party, and education level.
It came as a complete surprise that I would stumble upon my calling and purpose on this Sunday. I’m not young anymore and I’ve been thinking a lot about how to structure my retirement. I admit to reading a lot (maybe too much) and the pandemic has tightened my focus on the virus. I never envisioned my reading/research and sharing on social media would become my calling at this stage in life.
But it’s what I do. I hope you benefit from my work and that it helps you cut through the bullshit making this pandemic way worse than it ever should have been.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
George Orwell – 1984
Masks are sexy. Wear a mask.
