Damn the Torpedoes, Full Steam Ahead: Deploy the Hospital Ships
We definitely need to deploy our hospital ships, one to Houston, Texas, and one to Miami, Florida. “Damn the torpedoes” was said by Admiral Farragut in 1864. This sort of fits in today, as Farragut was fighting the Southern states in the Confederacy.
Today, “damn the torpedoes” is a reference to the unbelievable actions of Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida writing executive orders stopping all possible agencies of having vaccine or mask mandates. In their race to become the Grand Lord of Trump Obsequions. These Governors are not just those of small population states, they are the Governors of Texas, our second largest state, with 30 million, and of Florida, our third largest state, with 21.5 million. Granted, the elderly populations of these states are wise enough to get a fair amount of vaccinations, which will keep deaths down. But the those hospitalized by the Delta variant are 99% unvaccinated. About a quarter of those admitted go to ICUs, and half of those get put on ventilators.
Other states which have preempted local masking mandates in schools are Arkansas, South Carolina, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Utah.
On the other hand, several states are requiring masks in schools: Connecticut, Hawaii, New Mexico, New York, Virginia, and Washington.
There are quotes that the viral load generated by the Delta variant is 1,000 or 10 times the original virus or the Alpha (UK) variant. Delta is supposed to be highly distributed as an aerosol. I was wondering about the effectiveness of various masks for this, and the effectiveness appeared on NBC News. Unfortunately, they did not include the more readily available KN95 masks, which contain at least two non-woven layers. Cloth masks do not have the close microscopic coverage of non-woven layers. The surgical masks are meant to catch directly splattered droplets, not purify the air. They have gaps around the nose, and often around the size. People often do not even cover their noses. After a year and a half they should have learned that the viruses develop and become infective in the nasal cavity
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Someone commented that there is no turning back for these Governors, and admitting their errors, or else they lose standing in the unforgiving outlier audience that they have been courting. Trump is partly correct that even if he backed vaccinations at this point, it would not change the misinformed beliefs of this rebel audience. It is the in-between audience that is now being courted by healthcare. Unfortunately, the rebels also don’t back social distancing, and don’t wear masks. Presumably they also oppose their children wearing masks. They tout their freedom to get infected and run up hundred thousand dollar hospital bills that the rest of us must pay. Good masks cost what, a few dollars each?
The hospital ships eventually weren’t really needed in New York, because they took swift action, and also deployed hospital tent cities.
Governor DeSantis is going to cut the salaries of supervisors who don’t follow his policies. They are forgetting that Texas and Florida have a lot of wealthy people who will pick up or double their salaries. DeSantis will provide vouchers to charter schools for parents who want their children unmasked. We know how that will go. Teachers of charters will quit, and all of the students will quickly get infected and have to quarantine. Charters will be driven out of business. It’s possible that Charters actually have parents who don’t want their kids exposed to the dangers of public schools, and would be the first to refuse maskless kids.
Finally, PR people haven’t considered the derogatory effect of using the word “mask”, and should create a better alternative. Like “health shield”, or a Star Trek or Star Wars “deflective screen” or “deflector shield”, or the “force field”. Kids could wear those with pictures of their favorite music stars, or their school’s mascots. And why do we call some “surgical masks” with a frightening connotation of splattering blood. And why are they only colored green? The Mask sounds like something is being hidden, which we soon learned that self-admiring narcissists cannot stand. Us older people remember “who was that masked man?” Of course, it was the Lone Ranger, with Lone giving a sorrowful outlook. Then there was the slashing masked Zorro, who never properly learned to write his name with a pen. Any Republican grew up fearing Zorro, who stood up for common folk and attacked the wealthy. There was the comedy by Jim Kerry, “The Mask”, which completely took over the victim. To get rebels to wear a mask, either put Trump accross them, or make them look like American flags. Or they could just say “Don’t Tread on Me”.
By the way, people in Northern states, the Rockies, and Western states regularly go skiing and wear masks which also keep their noses covered. No big deal. On Halloween, kids love to dress in costumes and wear cute masks. Is Grinchy DeSantis going to ban Halloween too?
“And so it goes.” Kurt Vonnegut.
