Fox News Host Calls for Civil War and the Elderly Make Up 90% of Those Dying from COVID
Fox's Gutfeld Calls for Civil War, Coping with Israeli-Hamas War Grief, Does Anyone Care that Seniors Are Still Dying from COVID, Lead-Poisoned Playgrounds in Black Neighborhoods, John Lennon Sings
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: W.H. Auden helps us cope with the grief we’re all feeling right now.
This Group Is Still Dying of COVID: What can we do to stop it?
Trump Is Worried Foreigners Are Poisoning White Blood. Of course he is.
Lead-Poisoned Playgrounds in Black Neighborhoods: Is anybody surprised that plants built near Black neighborhoods polluted their playgrounds? What happened when it was discovered may surprise you.
Kareem’s Video Break: I didn’t know that otters juggle rocks—or why.
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld Calls for Civil War Because of Shoplifters. That smells a lot like treason. Are we so numb to treasonous talk that no one cares?
Yelling at Children Is as Harmful as Physical Abuse. Time to readjust what we think we know about parenting.
John Lennon Sings “Beautiful Boy”: On the occasion of his 83rd birthday, we celebrate with this touching song to his son.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
…
The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
from “Funeral Blues (Stop All the Clocks)” by W.H. Auden
I don’t want to discuss the intricacies and atrocities of the Israeli-Hamas conflict here. I just want a quiet space to express my grief. Grief is different than outrage and vengeance because it has no satisfying outlet or expression. No remedy, no cure. Even achieving justice does not slake grief. It is impenetrable.
Sometimes we experience pain so overwhelming that we can’t articulate it. It is like a nail driven between our shoulder blades that we can’t reach. Sometimes art finds a way to express that pain and there is some small cathartic relief. I feel that way with W.H. Auden’s poem “Funeral Blues,” one of the most popular poems in the world (thanks, in part, to its use in Four Weddings and a Funeral). I’ve included only the first and last stanzas here because they are the most memorable to me. They are what I remember when I’m confronted with grief—and the helplessness, frustration, and fury that grief brings.
A lot of us feel that way right now. No poem—no words—will change that. But it helps a little when we share it.
Who is dying from COVID now? This group represented 90% of deaths (San Francisco Chronicle)
SUMMARY: A study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday reveals that older adults — those 65 and above — accounted for 63% of all COVID-related hospitalizations recorded from January to August, even as admissions declined for nearly all other age groups over the same period.
Only 24% of those hospitalized this year were up to date on their coronavirus vaccinations, and the vast majority had two or more underlying health conditions. The 65 and older age group also constituted 61% of intensive care unit admissions and nearly 90% of COVID-19-related deaths.
In the U.S., there are approximately 53 million adults who fall into this age group, amounting to around 16% of the population. Nationally, an average of 155 people are still dying of COVID-related causes every day, the majority of them over 70 and/or immunocompromised.
Despite their higher risk, federal data show only about 43% of adults aged 65 and older received the previous bivalent booster shot, which was available from September 2022 to May of this year. Among those hospitalized, 16% had not received any COVID-19 vaccination at all.
MY TAKE: My fellow seniors are getting sick and dying unnecessarily: “The 65 and older age group also constituted 61% of intensive care unit admissions and nearly 90% of COVID-19-related deaths.” About 57% of seniors haven’t gotten the bivalent booster shot, despite being the most vulnerable. That’s more than 30 million seniors in danger.
So much for age bringing wisdom.
Why is this happening? Clearly, many seniors think the COVID danger has passed, and they can skip the vaccine and booster. The numbers say otherwise. Some are also listening to the vaccine deniers on conservative platforms whose policy is to tell their audience what they want to hear rather than the truth.
The challenge is to educate seniors that the threat to their health and lives is real. And if they won’t or can’t come to a medical facility, take the vaccines to them. We can’t let the ignorance of facts and the arrogance of age be their cause of death.
It’s worth noting that most of the states with the highest death rate from COVID are also the states ranked worst for education. The implication is that those with less education are more easily manipulated through misinformation. It also tells us that those states’ leaders lack effectiveness and commitment in educating their young and protecting their old.