Living in the United States during the Delta Variant of COVID-19 - July 2021


It's July 19th of 2021, and like most of the people that I know, I've been vaccinated for a very long time, and am enjoying seeing the United States open back up. If you're reading this in the future (and that's why I'm writing this in my history blog), I need to tell you that during just about all of the year 2020 and into summer of 2021 an extremely dangerous type of flu, called COVID-19, was killing people in record numbers, not only here in the United States, but all over the world. Then a vaccine was developed in early 2021, and by following the directions of scientists and doctors, the risk of illness and death from from this disease dropped.

And since I've been watching this, and have an unusual point of view, especially for someone who lives in the United States, I'm now seeing more of the pushback to doctor's advice to people on how they can live longer and healthier lives.

I've been following my doctor's orders for a very long time now. I make the assumption that my doctor wants me to go on living, hopefully because she genuinely cares about human lives, and of course I'm really of no use if I'm dead. I take my cholesterol and high blood pressure meds, I get blood checks, I get flu shots every year, and even did some horrible procedure that they require for people of, uh, a certain age that I won't describe to you. I also lost a lot of weight, I exercise regularly, and I eat my veggies.

So, as I look around me and know that people are not following their doctor's orders, I'm not really all that surprised. Not following doctor's orders seems to be something that people in the United States do best. They laugh off heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, which all too often can be preventable. They read the warnings on their meds and go ahead and use alcohol, anyway. Hey, you only live once, right?

So, the endless nagging to people who choose not to follow doctor's orders has got to be very annoying to them. All you gotta do to avoid getting terribly sick, and possibly dying, from COVID-19, and the extremely dangerous Delta Variant which is around right now, is to follow your doctor's orders. Go get a shot. Of course your doctor is also concerned about other things that might kill you, or make you very ill, so while you're at it, you really should get a blood check, take your meds, maybe lose some weight, eat some veggies. Nag, nag, nag.

Let's be careful out there, folks!
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