Last Covid Rant for 2021

December 2021

We have been in the United States a little over a month, and during that time we have experienced just a mishmash of Covid guidelines, at least in the nine states that we have passed through. We have seen signs asking people to wear a mask when entering and we have also been in many locations that just had no guidelines at all, one way or the other.

NOTE: It has been a lot easier wearing a mask in Arizona than back in Canada, the drier air causes much less fogging of the glasses … jus’saying

Our rule of thumb has been we wear a mask when we are indoors, but have not been wearing a mask when we are outside. When with people we know are vaccinated, we do not wear a mask unless the venue has suggested them to be worn, and to be real honest we just simply try to avoid those people who are not vaccinated. All of the host volunteers here at the arboretum say they have been vaccinated, and actually I believe they all have been.

There is no proof of vaccination required in Arizona, but those who have not been fully vaccinated are suppose to wear masks when indoor, and because there is no requirement for proof of it, people are just taken at their word, let me just say that I think that most unvaccinated people just lie to avoid having to wear a mask. I know it may be hard to believe that someone that is so strongly opposed to getting vaccinated and standing up for their “rights”, would stoop so low as to lying about being vaccinated to avoid wearing a mask … but that is just the reality of it here.

So, let’s start with a look at the numbers, let’s compare, but lets look at our Canadian numbers first, and then we will compare our home country of Canada and our adopted country The United States these numbers as of the middle of December.

This first plate shows that Canada wide we have 76% of Canadians fully vaccinated and 81% have had at least one vaccine shot.

This second plate shows the percentage of people that are eligible to receive the vaccine which is age five (5) and older, now we see that 80% are fully vaccinated and nearly 86% have received at least one shot.

Now we will look at the American numbers to see how the two countries compare. And I must apologize that these graphs are so hard to read but here are the numbers Canadians are 76.9% fully vaccinated and the Americans are only 60.9% fully vaccinated

Now a couple of things that stand out here and need to be mentioned, besides the fact that a much higher percentage of Canadians are fully vaccinated, but a quick glance at the timeline shows that the Canadian population was only able to receive vaccinations over a month or more after our American counterparts, as well as eager Canadians are still being held back from getting booster shots as they are still being restricted by age groupings yet. You may also notice the gap between first and second shots back in May, in Canada this was because of a shortage of vaccines that were available to Canadians so we stretched the time from 3 weeks between shots to nearly 12 weeks.

And this plate tells many stories when you stop and look, with some states having vaccination rates closer to a third world countries rates and others are nearing levels that would be expected of one of the greatest nations in the world. So how does someone explain the disparity between states, like even neighbouring States, like Pennsylvania at 58% fully vaccinated and West Virginia at only 48% for one example, and as I check the nine states that we have encountered this trip Michigan 54%, Ohio 53%, Indiana 56%, Illinois 61%, Missouri 51%, Oklahoma 51%, Texas 54% New Mexico 63% and Arizona 54% and out of the nine States, New Mexico was the only place we stopped, that we were asked for masks to be worn while entering a restaurant, right now all across Canada the only way people are allowed in to a restaurant or any venue for that matter, is with proof of being fully vaccinated.

And I have heard all the sad stories about “rights”, and we need to talk about “rights” for a moment, yes you have the “right” not to get vaccinated, but the owner of a venue has the “right” to demand you to be vaccinated to enter, you see we all have “rights”, I chose to get vaccinated so I could travel and attend events, so I have the “right” to do so safely. That’s why as citizens of our countries we expect our governments to protect us by not allowing viruses from other countries entering our country by demanding testing, we should also expect to be safe at a restaurant, or show, or theatre, after all it is also our “right”.

I hate calling the new cases “the pandemic of the unvaccinated” but that is just exactly what it is, so put what ever label you want on it, it seems that those who decided to protect themselves are faring far better than those who did not. Now I’m old enough to have seen the devastation of polio, and tuberculosis as a child and we have controlled those and many other childhood illnesses with vaccinations for many decades, so now all of a sudden an average joe living there in Wyoming or Idaho at 45% fully vaccinated, knows more about science and viruses than the Doctors, yea I think not, somebody is feeding those susceptible people a very long line of BS with some alternative Dr. Facebook facts thrown in, to try and back it up. Well Twitter, Facebook, and Fox News didn’t exist during the polio and tuberculosis era thank goodness or some of you might not be here today being able to demand your “rights”.

Oh I know it is the holiday season and we all want to get together with friends and family, some might even say it is their “right” to get together. And we hope that you can safely do just that, we have lost friends to this horrific virus, and have seen those who called it a hoax think they were going to die, while laying in a hospital, some are still feeling the ravishing effects of the virus, so if you do really care about friends and family, keep them safe this holiday season, protect yourself and them as well please.

The best of the holiday season to you and yours, stay safe and be well.