No Jabby Jabby

Posted on by Thor

A conservative activist from Arlington, Texas, who peddled COVID-19 vaccine misinformation died of complications caused by the virus, just a few weeks after attending a “symposium” against the shots. Her death was caused by “COVID-related pneumonia.”

The anit-Vaxer announced on Facebook in November of 2021 that her employer granted her a religious exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine. “No jabby-jabby for me! Praise GOD!” she wrote at the time. She was an outspoken critic of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and pandemic-related restrictions. In one of her final Facebook posts, she shared several links to speeches she attended at a “COVID Symposium” in Burleson, Texas devoted to dissuading people from getting the COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available. The event was organized by God Save Our Children, which bills itself as “a conservative group that is fighting against the use of experimental vaccines on our children.”

She developed an acute abdominal issue, was given pain medications and put on the ventilator. She died peacefully after gasping her last breath and is now resting in the arms of her savior Jesus Christ. Her misinformation guaranteed she isn’t going to the lord alone.

Viral History and Human Behavior

Posted on by Thor

People have always responded the same way to plagues and pandemics. When faced by the tragic forces of nature most people stand by and watch. With an earthquake or hurricane maybe 10% of the people do the right thing and help. Another proponent do the opposite they actively impede recovery. Most people however wait to be told what to do. They are the frog in the slowly boiling pot of water. Rather than panic or gear into recovery mode, they mellow out and pretend nothing is happening.

When the twin towers were hit, most people didn’t immediately run to the stairwells. They sat back down and waited to be told what to do. Many who waited died. Today we are still experiencing a 9/11 worth of death every week from COVID and most have mellowed out, pretending nothing is happening. Those who wear masks and social distance are treated with suspicion. They break the illusion promoted by top officials that the pandemic is over.

During the Black Death of the 1830s, the rich stole from the poor and vulnerable and scapegoated people of other socioeconomic classes, along with the sick and disabled. Families abandoned the dead. In general hatred of “others” took hold. Those with money believed themselves to be safe from infection. Leadership in general denied the reality of what was happening. In Europe. the Jews were blamed for purposefully infecting Christians. Doctors advised patients that “the best way to protect against disease, causing bad air, was to expose oneself to more bad air.” Rumors and misinformation flourished.

The 1889 Russian Flu was known for a post-acute stage that caused “nervous disorders” including depression that lasted years. In 1893, Edvard Munch, still suffering post-flu, painted The Scream.

Austrian artist Egon Schiele died October 31, 1918 from the Spanish Flu. His wife, Edith Schiele who was 6 months pregnant died two days earlier.

As bodies piles up in 1918 officials insisted there was no cause for alarm. Propaganda fueled by the WW I war effort had little regard for a statements truth or falsehood. Citizens were considered the mental equivalent of children. The president at the time, Woodrow Wilson never made a statement about the virus.Woodrow Wilson had a bad bout of the Spanish Flu and later suffered a stroke which parallelized his left side and caused brain fog. His inability to focus kept him from promoting his peace treaty at Versailles.

By ignoring the unfolding tragedy terror settled into the populace. As the director of public health in Chicago said, “It is our job to keep people from fear. Worry kills more than the disease.” A war drive parade was held in Chicago despite warnings and there was a huge surge of 8,000 deaths that followed. Mass graves had to be dug. San Francisco on the other hand promoted the use of masks and the weathered the influenza outbreak much better with 1,857 deaths.

Not the Virus you Are Looking For

Posted on by Thor

Why is COVID-19 getting so good at immune evasion? The COVID virus uses  spike proteins to recognize and enter host cells. Recent COVID variants contain changes, or mutations, at a key site on the spike protein called the receptor-binding site (RBS).

Some of these mutations render antibodies that fought earlier virus strains less effective. This allows the variants to partially escape the immune response produced after vaccination or prior infection. It raises concerns that new variants could make existing vaccines less effective and draw out the pandemic.

Antibodies created by COVID-19 vaccines or natural infection by the original pandemic strain are often ineffective against the new variants of concern. COVID hijacks human cell machinery to blunt the immune response, allowing it to establish infection, replicate and cause disease.

The latest COVID variant in the United States is XBB.1.5 which seems to be the most immune evasive variant so far. It is the first recombinant COVID variant expected to become dominant in the United States. It is called “recombinant” because it was created when two  Omicron sub-variants merging inside the same human cell. By doing so, it gained, a mutation for immune evasion as well as an increased ability to bind to and infect human cells. The variant was first noticed in New York State in December 2022 and became dominant in by mid-January, so it’s too early to tell whether it causes more severe illness. The numbers of reported cases keep doubling every 7-10 days.

With so much at home testing it is hard to know just how wide spread it is. Meanwhile excess deaths keep rising as young and old alike die from heart failure and organ failure. COVID attacks the linings of blood vessels, causes blood clots, attacks the nerves, the brain and the heart. People seem confused by all these unexplained deaths. The answer, COVID, is staring everyone in the face.

So many politicians and medical experts however have been gaslighting the public into believing the pandemic is over. It isn’t. “Recovering” from an infection, does not mean the virus is done causing damage. COVID surges have been links to heart attacks in people of all ages but particularly ages 25-44.  Heart attacks rose by almost 30% with each wave of the pandemic. A heart attack is likely a COVID delayed effect. The German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, admitted that COVID causes incurable immune deficiency. “Letting it Rip” just isn’t working.

COVID Tipping Point

Posted on by Thor

Is there an unacceptable level of COVID deaths that could convince people that “living with the virus” should not mean mass infection? We have been at a high plateau of over 300 deaths a day for months now. It would seem that 300 deaths are considered acceptable to most, since people think life will return to normal if they just ignore the virus. Wishing the virus away does nothing to mitigate it’s spread.

The media seems to regard these deaths as insignificant since most who die are old or vulnerable. Do more children need to die for anyone to care? Do the caskets need to be smaller? Since the easing of masking and social distancing more children are being infected than adults. The children then take the virus home and give it to their parents and grand parents. Since the start of the pandemic about 700 children have died as of October 2021. I am assuming parents consider this acceptable collateral damage now that they can live without masks.

Governments around the world have been quietly installing air filtration HEPA systems to keep themselves safe, while telling everyone else that the pandemic is over. Meanwhile the caskets are also quietly being stacked up.

COVID deaths in New York State spiked 30% in December 2022, to the highest tally since early 2022, a Post analysis showed. This is in part due to the highly transmissible XBB.1.5 (Kraken) variant that is now spreading across the country. Meanwhile home tests have made it impossible too track just how the virus is spreading.

In China doctors are being instructed too try not to write COVID as the cause of death. No official wants the public to be aware of what is happening. A doctor Wen noted that most countries are finding that most deaths from COVID are caused directly by the infection rather than by a combination of COVID and other diseases. Just as in China, some American talking heads want to convince people that the numbers of deaths due to COVID have been under-counted. The truth is that even American deaths due to COVID have been under counted since long term complications are not taken into account.

The CDC predicted that the number of newly reported COVID-19 deaths will remain stable or have an uncertain trend over the next 4 weeks, with 1,500 to 5,400 new deaths likely reported in the week ending February 11, 2023. The national ensemble predicts that a total of 1,108,000 to 1,120,000 COVID-19 deaths will be reported by this date.

Off the Cliff

Posted on by Thor

The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to recommend the use of masks by the public in specific situations, and this update recommends their use irrespective of the local epidemiological situation, given the current spread of the COVID-19 globally. Masks are recommended following a recent exposure to COVID-19, when someone has or suspects they have COVID-19, when someone is at high-risk of severe COVID-19, and for anyone in a crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated space.

The drive to “end the pandemic” began almost as soon as the pandemic arrived in the U.S. The 45th president downplayed the severity of the pandemic knowing full well that the virus was airborne. Joe Biden has not done any better, proclaiming that the pandemic was over in one TV interview. The economy is always more important than public health.

COVID is airborne. Airborne transmission is different from droplets, which are large particles containing the virus, expelled when you speak, cough, sneeze, etc. Droplets are heavy enough that they will eventually drop to the ground or nearby surfaces, meaning it’s relatively easy to contain: any physical barrier, like a cloth mask or plexiglass barrier might stop the spread. However an airborne virus can remain airborne for much longer. If someone is smoking in a closed room, you can small the smoke from across the room and even further away. I have always maintained a physical distance of 22 feet from others. If I hear or see someone approaching, my mask is always slipped into place.

A quality N-95 mask is needed to stop the virus if you are around others. The problem is the entire country has been groomed to believe the pandemic is over. The pandemic is not over since over 300 people continue to die every day in America. The horror of what is happening in China may never be fully reported. The tired masses have been groomed  for a mass infection. Their desire to return to normal while abandoning all masking, means the county has already driven the car off the cliff.

This is not the end of the pandemic but the end of the beginning of the pandemic.

Casa Feliz

Posted on by Thor

I often venture off to sketch Casa Feliz with my Crealde Urban Sketching students. Since I have sketched the same structure many times, I get to play with how I treat the subject without much concern about the final result. I don’t focus explosively on the sketch but also circulate among the students to give them tips and show them my progress.

I think it is a good idea for students to see how much time I spend on each stage of the sketch process so they can make adjustments to their time management. Finishing a sketch in the course of two hours is a challenge if you are studying every detail. The key to this sketch is the blue door. Even outdoors, I remain masked when sketching on location.

Crealde Urban Sketching classes resume on Sunday January 27, 2023.

COVID: The Boomer Remover

Posted on by Thor

COVID-19 is known as the Boomer Remover and it is also setting its sights on Generation X. The median age that people are dying at has dropped by a decade, dropping from 78 in 2020 to 69 years in 2021 thanks to COVID.  Long COVID is now killing more people than COVID itself. Kraken is dominating in America right now with deaths increasing by 44%.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed long-standing system problems of US health care ranging from access barriers, excessive costs, inefficiency, unacceptable quality, widespread disparities and inequities, and marginalization of public health. The existing healthcare system has been ill equipped to respond effectively to the pandemic.

America has focused on magic bullet drug solutions promoted by highly profitable drug companies. COVID has found ways to dodge every one of the pharmaceutical magic bullets. Under paid and exhausted healthcare workers are abandoning their jobs because of the endless and needless COVID deaths.

In America and other countries like Sweden, officials intentionally promoted mass infection. At the end of December 2022, Sweden saw more deaths than at the height of the first Omicron wave. Japan is now seeing the highest number of deaths since the start of the pandemic. Some reports say 9000 people are dying every day in China.

As the virus spread unchecked,, immune systems are being harmed and the healthcare system seems to be under continual strain. For the mask less drones, let me simply state once again, the pandemic is not over. Braces in a toothless mouth will not change the course of the pandemic. Vaccines only offer marginal protection from infection. Despite this, denial is the American norm.

Mass Infection is not the Solution

Posted on by Thor

The politicians solution of mass infection or herd immunity is not the way to end the COVID pandemic. The Trump White House first embraced this far-reaching support for a dangerous and discredited herd immunity via mass infection strategy inside the White House. Unfortunately Joe Biden has also embraced this insanity since it is the easiest thing to do. He proclaimed the pandemic was over on National TV.

The fact is that the infected are getting re-infected with increasing worst outcomes. COVID does not boost the immune system it turns out it is destroying peoples immune systems. Though people might survive the first infection of COVID, they are more likely to become infected by other viruses. This is why people are suddenly catching horrible cases of the flu and RSV.

Non-COVID excess deaths are on the rise. No one knows the cause of the excess mortality in the midst of the pandemic. XBB.1.5 is spreading rapidly and the public has been lulled into abandoning all health protection measures like social distancing and wearing masks. The are done with caring and are easily persuaded to go about life as if the pandemic were over. In a football game this week a player is in critical condition after a cardiac arrest that left him lying of the field. The game went on as normal once his body was dragged off the field. He reamins in critical condition. This is how politicians treat their constituents. Dispose of the bodies and go about as if there was no pandemic. People will believe anything you say if you say it often enough. We learned that from 45.

Congress votes to cut 8 billions dollars that was slated for COVID. Political leaders continue to lie saying the pandemic is over, yet in Japan they just recorded the highest number of deaths in a single day since the start of the pandemic. Ignore the gaslighting of politicians if you hope to remain uninfected.

Mask up with quality well fitting N95 masks folks. the next couple of months are going to be rough. I don’t try and look for subtle reasons to mask, or no mask,I mask in all situations, indoors and outdoors  when around others. When I wear the mask often it becomes easier to forget I am wearing it.

2022 Pandemic

Posted on by Thor

2022 was a crazy roller coaster ride. Nine tenths of the work I did since march 2020 has been pandemic related. The pandemic is not over but there seems to be a news black out related to the subject. Complacency, ignorance and pandemic fatigue has set in as everyone wants life to return to “normal”. People are gathering in tight groups without wearing masks to allow the virus to spread.

I am waiting to see what happens in China with a huge population that was largely protected from previous infection and has a very low vaccination rate. Of course news is not very reliable coming out of that Communist county. They have stopped daily reporting on the number of cases and they are no longer testing for new variants. Whatever happens in China will soon spread to the United States since this country had done the worst job at handling the health crisis. Over 1 million Americans have died from COVID since the start of the pandemic and about 2,500 people continue to die every week.

2023 looks like it might offer much of the same. Strap in because it looks like it will be another rough ride. Could the pandemic wind down in 2023? Perhaps, but no one really knows for sure. Those who claim they know what lies ahead are lying. Wishful thinking helps misinformation flourish.

Times Square Selfie

Posted on by Thor

Rain and the Kraken (XBB.1.5)  COVID variant did not stop thousands of people from gathering in Times Square for the New Year’s Eve ball drop. The city of New York does not have COVID requirements for outdoor events. There were no restrictions and no public health safety precautions taken.

People are wishing that the pandemic were over and a wishing wall was set up in Times Square. People could write their wish for the year on a post it note and stick it on the wall. About 80,000 notes were collected and those notes rained down on the crowd at midnight. One fellow wished his girlfriend might be healthy in the new year. She was battling COVID-19 and pneumonia. More than 1 ton of confetti is typically dropped in Times Square to bring in the new year.

Do superspreader events still exist? Yes they do. The United States defunded and scaled back its testing and contact tracing programs in early 2022, and in doing so, the public was encouraged to ignore just how widespread COVID is. The simple fact is, that the media no longer reports about superspreading events. After over a million deaths, Americans want to blissfully ignore the ongoing carnage of over 2000 deaths a week. Right now China may be experiencing over 9000 deaths a day, but the government needs to spin that in a positive light.

In a matter of a week, right before the New Year’s celebrations,  the XBB.1.5 variant has become the dominant variant in New York. It now accounts for over 50% of reported COVID cases. With at home testing there are many more unreported cases. The number of people hospitalized for COVID has risen to over 45,000 which is the highest it has been since February of 2022. The pandemic is NOT over.

COVID is still a leading cause of death in the U.S., indicating that substantial transmission is still occurring. The simplest way to avoid infection is to avoid superspreader events.