Hi, I’m Rick Barron, your host, and welcome to That’s Life, I Swear

Yep, I know it’s the COVID virus, but it’s my body and I’ll die if I want to.

Yes, that was the motto for many during the past two years, and even to this day. However, I’m somewhat confused why one would’ve risked their lives to deny a chance to survive over a virus they did not understand its ramifications?

Part of the resistance was the notion that no one, especially the U.S. Government, was going to tell some people what to do, even if it meant saving their life from potential misery.

Let’s jump into this.

Today we finally find ourselves seeing true light at the end of the tunnel. All across the country, mask mandates are rolling back, concerns to get the fourth vaccine, or booster as we call it, are now seen as unnecessary. Hospitalizations and death rates have been declining.

It’s been quite the ride over the past two years. Still, looking back, it was the various moments of unrest and how human nature was thrown into a whirlwind of changes.  At first the agitation in people, seemed so surreal but soon molded into stark reality of what we were about to encounter.

When COVID kicked in, we wondered how long the clock would tick on the duration of this virus. Data has always been of interest to me. I once heard that math is truth. I followed the numbers day-by-day, I wondered just how long the USA and the world, could sustain all this disruption that held us captive.

Tracking the deaths, number of cases over time, day-by-day, soon registered that the world had hit a brick wall, and at least for now, had no way of knowing how to break it down. Doubt and hopelessness covered the entire world.

In the beginning, it sounded like the virus that would blow over in a few weeks. At least that’s what I thought when my company sent us home and told us to stay locked-in for about two weeks. Two weeks was no problem, easy, pesy.

Two weeks went by, then another week, then another and then eventually it began to sink in, we were now walking into a nightmare that you thought you only see in a movie.

2020 was a year that we would learn to hate and wanted soon to be put behind us.

Discussions about a vaccine to deal with the Covid was topic number one. We heard a vaccine could take months if not a few years. Months or years was hard to absorb and accept. This news was not happening. I mean we live in a society where we can have things happen instantly…didn’t we?

Much to everyone’s surprise, in December of 2020, we got the news that a vaccine was in the making. The Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine came out first to be followed by the Moderna vaccine, then Johnson & Johnson. The whole world breathed a sigh of relief.

I remember watching the news media teams waiting outside shipping yards across the United States, waiting for the first trucks to start rolling their wheels and delivering the first load of vaccines to various locations around the United States.

As we headed into 2021, we saw multiple venues such as sports arenas, schools, fairgrounds, become the first steps to provide people the means to start taking their first and second shots. Eventually many people would also start getting their booster shots. Yes, we were on our way back to ‘normal’.

We did it, we’re going to survive, we’re going to succeed beating the virus.

Or so we thought.

No sooner did we see hope than we started seeing our societies worldwide shooting themselves in the foot. Enter the conspiracy virus. The ‘don’t tell me what to do’ demonstrations were about to begin.  

Conspiracy theories often crop up after catastrophic or unusual events and they thrive in environments where there is a lack of trusted information.

Yep, you know, Fake News!

Many news sites thrive on conspiracy theory type content as it drives up ratings for many of them, paying no mind to the unnecessary damage it delivered to people's mindsets.

There was so much information or lack of, that caused the public to doubt what to believe. With so many news channels, TV, radio, and social media; the daily overload of information only led some to want to turn everything off and run away from what was happening in the world.

Over time COVID-19 was a constant moving target.  Dealing with a virus that zigged and zagged caused a reversing of course, such as re-instituting guidance on wearing masks indoors among both the vaccinated and unvaccinated despite months of the administration telling Americans that they could unmask if they got their shots.

All of this confusion only helped contribute to individuals get wrapped up in the wacky world of witches and half-truths. Various groups kept pontificating it’s my body and saw no need for vaccine. But, sadly, thinking in that notion only led to people dying a prolonged and ugly death.

Yes, it’s your body, but why would you want to put your body through shortness of breath or trouble breathing, fatigue, chills, loss of taste, vomiting, diarrhea, pneumonia, and more?

What made one think they could outrun this virus. Some did and some sadly didn’t

As we struggled through this pandemic, how many people died needlessly from being overloaded with conspiracies that had no merit? We as a society were now dealing with another virus, the digital virus.

Social media sites, blogs, digital tabloids, and more flooded the airwaves with utter nonsense that smeared the world of medical science within seconds.

I loved the conspiracy that taking the vaccine would make your entire body magnetic.  When I had my morning breakfast and started to spread jam on my toast, I had to wonder if the knife all of a sudden would fly to my forehead and stay there. Yes, I would be Magnetic Man!

Other conspiracies had people saying that, Bill Gates, was behind the planting of microchips in the vaccine so big brother could track you.

With refusing to take the vaccine for whatever purpose many people had, I saw another reason why you should, the cost factor.

There were cases where people survived COVID. However, should you have been one of the fortunate to survive your stay in the hospital, you were wheeled out with a medical bill the likes of which you never could’ve imagine.

On top of the medical bill, many walk out with symptoms that will require ongoing medical attention for a long time if not forever. The insurance companies only cover so much. Are you getting it?

People took the notion they could just outrun the clock with this pandemic. They thought wrong. COVID eventually found those who stayed defiant against wearing masks, keeping a safe distance from others, but more importantly, their refusal to ignore taking the vaccines.

What was sad to observe were the people coming into the hospital with COVID, who said they regretted not having taken the vaccine. They told their friends to stop being defiant and take the vaccine. Yes, there was a way to protect your body, but stubbornness and conspiracy theories got in the way.

Those who refused to take the vaccine created another dilemma, our hospital system.

When COVID first took off, our hospital system was overwhelmed.  They were hanging on by their fingernails.

People kept shouting it's ‘my body’ and will not be forced to comply to vaccine mandates.
Your body? What about the bodies of health care workers? For over two years, nurses and doctors were on the front lines of the pandemic, working endless hours, only to get short breaks for rest. Every day became a relentless Covid Sunami of patients, many of who stayed stubbornly defiant to not taking even one vaccine.

I felt for the medical people. Their minds and wills were exhausted and so demoralized that since February 2020, nearly 1 in 5 healthcare workers, or 18 percent, quit their jobs, according to poll results from Morning Consult, a global privately-held data intelligence company.

Who can blame them? These individuals were subject to emotional whiplash while on the job and when going home collapsed on their beds exasperated and wondered if this job was worth it.

I wonder how those who refused to take the vaccine only to get hit with the virus, might have reacted if they were turned away at the hospital door. Sorry, hospitals will only accept those who took the vaccines to help provide a better chance of survival. I mean why waste our time on those who felt it was their body and no one was going to make them take a vaccine. What if?

The virus caused a disruption in our ‘normal’ lives, that many grew tired of being told what to do, even though we know we needed to adhere to some tough love guidance, otherwise the end result was a toe tag.

Some respond to mandates as forcing people who refuse the vaccination to being excommunicated from society. When hearing this type of thinking, my only response is, what do you think the COVID will do.

So, what's the lesson learned here? What's the takeaway from this story I just walked you through?

Let’s start with the basics. If were ever get to back to what we kept calling ‘normal’, then all of those defiant individuals holding back, needed to join the human race again.

The long-term solution - we can't get out of this pandemic, at least without a lot of harm, without vaccinating high numbers of people all around the world. There's no shortcut to this. If you keep thinking you can outrun this virus, you’re only kidding yourself. That said, dump the conspiracy theories and please get the vaccine

Stop thinking in terms of it’s your body. Yes, it is your body, but it is not impervious to COVID. The longer you stall getting the vaccine, the shorter time you’ll have on planet earth.

I know you’re tired and frustrated. The whole world wanted this to be over. We’re coming out of it, but we cannot let our guard down. More than two years ago, we were thrown into a nightmare the likes of which we never thought we would encounter. But it happened, and that’s a fact.

Fast forward and look at where we are now. Yes, we’re still fighting the COVID, but now we have vaccines and boosters, the ability to test from home…all positives.

COVID hit us like a sucker punch. Our world was upended in a matter of weeks when a far-flung outbreak spiraled into a genuine pandemic.

Everyone’s lives were turned upside down. However, we didn’t expect to see human behavior becoming a key factor in battling the disease.

As 2021 closed, humanity could only look back on 2020 as a year that just sucked. The year 2021 brought promise that together, our ticket out of this nightmare was starting to come to an end.

Over the past two years, we all had to deal with ongoing social isolation, loneliness, and anxiety over when we will see an end to this pandemic. The time period also imposed dealing with losing a loved one due to this virus.

We saw many people suffer financial pain due to lockdown repercussions. As a country, and even around the world, we witnessed civil liberties face their greatest test. Public trust in government’s handling of the pandemic also took its toll. Mandates be damned was the rule for many.

The experts agree that there is good news and that is the pandemic will come to an end but not completely. I’d like to say that COVID will be eradicated but eventually we’ll move from the pandemic stage to the what they call the endemic stage.

That’s nice but what does this mean. Endemic means the virus will keep circulating but its pervasiveness and impact will come down to relatively manageable levels, so it moves towards being like the flu than a world-stopping disease.

The optimistic view is that enough people will gain immune protection from vaccination and from natural infection such that there will be less transmission and much less COVID related hospitalization and death, even as the virus continues to circulate.

That said, let’s not kid ourselves, new pandemics are just around the corner, that’s a fact. History will look back on this time period and review how we dealt with COVID and learn what to do and not do.

Let’s leave them a sensible roadmap worth following. The first step, trust the science and get your vaccines. In the scheme of all things, it’s not too much to ask.

Well, there you go. That’s life, I swear.

For further information regarding the material covered in this episode, I invite you to visit my website that you can find on either Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, for show notes calling out key pieces of content mentioned, and the episode transcript.

As always, I thank you for listening.

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