For five years I dodged every bullet.
I don't know how I managed to beat COVID-19 for so long, despite family, friends and colleagues contracting the coronavirus. While I took precautions early on with masks and vaccinations, I was also in public a lot for work and travel.
But my luck finally ran out and the air travel must have taken a toll on me. I returned from a cross-country trip with a sharp sore throat and a persistent headache followed by aches and pains.
The first test was positive.
I thought this was wrong, given my track record of super immunity.
The second test was even more positive.
So, I sat quarantined in the corner of the house, alternately pulling out Tylenol and a thermometer. Everything is a little blurry, so it's hard to distinguish what's real from what's imagined.
For example, how can it be true that when I first got COVID, the news suddenly became dominated by COVID-related stories?
It must be a fever-induced hallucination. There is no other way to explain why, as COVID surges again with a new strain, the best tool against the virus – a vaccine – is under full attack from the Trump administration.
They make it harder, not easier, to get the medications recommended by the vast majority of the legitimate, non-crazy wing of the medical community.
According to the new vaccination policyprices have risen. Doctors' permission is required. Depending on your age or your state of residence, you may be out of luck.
Meanwhile, President Trump fired Susan Monares head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mainly for putting her professional integrity and commitment to public service above the ridiculous dictates of a cabal of vaccine skeptics.
And following Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceling $500 million for mRNA vaccine researchTrump demands that pharmaceutical companies show evidence that vaccines work.
My eyes are red and burning, but could COVID be entirely to blame?
Before the trip I was vaccinated, although I knew that it might not last new strain COVID. I may have a milder case than I would have had without the vaccine. But on this and many other questions, as new waves continue to come our way, wouldn't the smart move be to increase research rather than decrease it?
Trump downplayed the virus when it first emerged in 2019 and 2020. He then blamed it on China. He resisted the camouflage, and thousands of lemmings became sick and died. Then he contracted COVID himself. At one point, he recommended that people get the vaccine.
Now he's hitting the brakes?
My headache is back, my eyes are still burning, and unless my Tylenol is spiked with LSD, I think I'm just saw the clip in which Kennedy and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attempted 50 pull-ups. and 100 push-ups in 10 minutes.
I appreciate the support for health and fitness, and since Kennedy and I are the same age—71—seeing him in the gym is impressive.
But there is something to be said about Kennedy-Hegseth's training footage:
They are deceiving.
See for yourself and don't be fooled by the tight jerseys these two homecoming kings are wearing.
These weren't full pull-ups or push-ups.
Not even close.
Cutting corners is the wrong message to send to the children of the country or any age group. And how can a person get to the gym if they get COVID because they couldn’t get vaccinated?
Honestly, this must all be a fever dream because mid-practice Kennedy said, and I quote, “President Trump is the one who inspired us to do this.”
He's multifaceted, President Trump. A fitness role model is not one of them, no matter how many times he jumps out of sand traps during work hours.
Returning to cutting corners, Kennedy said in a review of mRNA research that “We studied science“, citing a press release to a 181-page document purporting to support his claim that the vaccines “do not provide effective protection.”
The document was completely gutted by hordes of scholars who were stunned by Kennedy's distortions and misinterpretations.
“This is either stunning incompetence or deliberate misrepresentation,” said Jake Scott, an infectious disease physician and professor at Stanford University. write for media company STAT. “Kennedy is using evidence that undermines his own position to justify dismantling tools we will desperately need when the next pandemic hits.”
I lost my sense of smell a few days ago, but even I can tell you what it stinks.
