Now, add COVID.
Today I learned that being an old fart is a co-morbidity when it comes to listing cause of death due to COVID. So, why are “we” vaccinating the under-20s? Sorry, I digress.
CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walenski has announced that people with 4 co-mobidities are more likely to die than those without. Oh, I’m sorry: die from COVID-plus-something – not “just” COVID? Well, I’m no doctor (medical or otherwise), and not a “health-care professional” (though the adjustors in my insurance carrier may beg to differ), but this “divine revelation” is not news to me.
There have been countless (and I do mean countless – like to infinity and beyond) opinions as to why COVID has happened. Ignoring the opinions that have seemingly changed faster than the wind in the past two years, perhaps COVID is just a wake up call for those who aren’t saddled with “co-mobidities.”
Yes, I said not inflicted with co-morbidities. Years and years ago, I picked up a book titled: What to Eat if You Have Heart Disease*. Several decades later, I still don’t have heart disease; but I have often wondered why a person would wait until sick with a “co-mobidity” before adjusting their life style. Makes me think of the game to see how close you can stand to a speeding train.
The other day, I was in a parking lot walking to my car when I passed a man going into the store. He was probably 50-something, if not older (an old fart like me). His mask was down, keeping his chin warm while he smoked a cigarette. It is hard for me to imagine a more incongruous picture. COVID-only has always been touted as a respiratory disease. In the two years we have denied COVID we have decided that it can affect other organs as well; but it is still inhaled and apparently not transmitted by doorknobs (and a shame, too: I’d rather wear gloves than a mask).
Now, COVID-OMICRON is (Bad News) much more easily transmitted than its predecessor (“Alpha,” I think – this is certainly sounding Biblical (don’t tell the woke – no wait: that was “Alpha and Omega” – sorry). But (Good News), less likely to stick you in ICU. So, let’s do triple shots (no, not tequila) and double mask (if I am wearing two masks and you are wearing two masks, what does that make us? Besides fall-down, pee-in-your-pants ludicrous?).
Oh yeah, back to not having “co-morbities” (maybe less Biblical and more Greek Tragedy?). I make this assertion because if you have one of them things, you are very nearly dead already, so why change? (Kind of like substituting margarine for butter after your double-bypass.)
There was a statement made a few years ago that you can’t be healthy if you’re fat (sorry: I have no clue as to who coined this phrase – suggestions welcome). And looking purely at statistical records (observations – not interpretations or Wild ___ Guesses (WAGs) the number of cases is “trending” up (I’d like to say “exploding” or “increasing exponentially” – but being alarmist on this subject is the job of Chicken Little). The Harvard School of Public Health declares: “Today, nationwide, roughly two out of three U.S. adults are overweight or obese (69 percent) and one out of three is obese (36 percent).” From 15 percent in 1990**. The other “co-morbidities” are less easily observed and are controversial (e.g., high blood pressure seems to have decreased in the most recent years). However, they all contribute to heart disease.
Now, add COVID.
As they say: “Life is short, death is sure, and Eternity is a long time.”
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*Keane, Maureen and Chace, Daniella, Contemporary Books, 1998
** https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/an-epidemic-of-obesity/ from, Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Ogden CL. Prevalence of obesity and trends in the distribution of body mass index among US adults, 1999-2010. JAMA. 2012;307:491-7.
Eternity is a Long Time 