Re: CV and mad panic behaviour
Reply #4220 –
I’ve tried to keep this brief, but it is a little lengthy (and possibly preachy, sorry) - apologies and thanks to those who take the time to read it.
The thread now has nothing to do with Covid, but instead who is right, wrong, which information is right or wrong with a bit of name calling thrown in.
This is my Covid Story.
The first person that I knew that got Covid was in about April 2020 - my cricket captain, aged late 40s. He is an asthmatic. He was in hospital for several weeks. Got sent home. Relapsed and was a lot closer to death than most of us have been – he won’t tell us exactly how serious it was, but we know it wasn’t good. He is still suffering, with his asthma being worse, and breathing is more difficult. I know of a couple of others who didn’t really have many symptoms (20-30 year olds).
The other local story from its early days was from a colleague. His mate and wife both caught Covid. The mate recovered, yet the wife had still no sense of taste 6 months later. I haven’t had any recent info as to whether it has been recovered.
The ‘flu pretty much affects people the same way, with the same symptoms. Covid doesn’t. There are heaps of different symptoms and reactions.
One of my clients works with some of the poorest people in the world. Countries such as Myanmar, DRC (Republic of Congo), Laos, Cambodia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Thailand, India – there are a few more. Across the countries, there are about 55 project partners.
Nearly every day we get updates – about how they almost have sell the very little they have as someone in the family needs oxygen, so can’t go to a public hospital, how they have even less money, as they can’t do the day-to-day work which gives them money for food that day, about how the people trafficking trade is increasing, as people are more desperate for money, so they sell their children, how some of the project partners are risking their lives in running food programs in countries that are beset with war/fighting/rebels, how the close acquaintances, husbands, wives are dying/have died from Covid, how a test costs US$50 – a fortune for some of these people, so they aren’t done.
We have to keep working with these people – we obviously can’t visit them. We need to be accountable to donors – so we ask the partners for their reports on the projects. ‘Please find the report attached, with photos’. Asked the partner for the attachment – sorry I forgot. I was taking one of our workers to hospital to get oxygen as they are suffering badly – and we want them to send us the report?
In one region, there is escalated fighting between factions, natural disasters, Covid is rife and there are severe food shortages. People aren’t allowed out of their houses, yet they have no money saved to help them live. Their landlords kick them out because they can’t pay rent, so they have to go to the streets.
The gains in reducing poverty over the last decade and more have essentially been wiped out. This is going take a long time to recover from.
We are fortunate and privileged in Australia – most of us don’t appreciate how much, or how wealthy we are.
Yes, we have governments and politicians that we don’t agree with. They make decisions that we don’t understand – but we voted for them and we aren’t willing to do their job. It is about time we, as a country grew up, reduced our sense of entitlement and outrage, stopped the ‘extreme right and left’ shouting matches and looked after each other and our communities.
How do we do this for Covid? Be ‘sheeple’ and proud of it. Wear a mask. Is it inconvenient – yes. Do they work - yes and no. Where they don’t, it’s an inconvenience, where they do, we are helping to reduce people catch it. Get a vaccination (or two). Risks and side effects are not worse than other vaccinations. If we don’t vaccinate, we’ll be living in this crazy world for evermore. Our CHOs and politicians are telling us this is the measuring stick to end the yo-yo of restrictions that we have.
These steps won’t eradicate Covid, but they will help us be able to get back to a life that is better than many are living right now.
It is not about each of us as individuals, it is about us as partners, families, housemates, neighbours and communities. The only way out is to work together to achieve the result.
Thanks for sharing dodge, well said, perspective is always the leveller.