{"id":1553,"date":"2021-08-19T13:23:06","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T13:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/?p=1553"},"modified":"2021-08-19T13:23:06","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T13:23:06","slug":"august-19-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/?p=1553","title":{"rendered":"August 19, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Think about that.\u00a0 That means that when you go anywhere, roughly 50% of the people around you are not vaccinated \u2013 regardless of where you live.\u00a0 And if you take into account the fact that no children under 12 are vaccinated, the odds are that fewer than 50% of the people around you wherever you go are vaccinated.\u00a0 Here in Montana, given that mask mandates are against the law, whenever I go to the grocery store, it is a pretty sure bet that at least half the people in that store are unvaccinated and almost all of those people are not wearing masks.\u00a0 Let that sink in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the government is going to start recommending and making booster shots available due to the waning efficacy of the initial two shot regime.\u00a0 It is looking more and more like the COVID virus will be an endemic for which we may need an annual shot just like for the flu.\u00a0 Of course, less than 50% of the population normally get a flu shot annually even though somewhere between 22,000 and 61,000 people die from the flu every year.\u00a0 Since COVID is even more virulent and deadly than the flu we can expect even more people to die unnecessarily due to the inability of the American people to step up and do the right thing. \u00a0It boggles my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t worry too much about the flu these days.\u00a0 I get my annual shot and take reasonable precautions.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t worry about getting the flu when I go to the grocery store nor do I care about whether people have their flu shot or not.\u00a0 If the COVID virus was similar in characteristics to the flu and we could get annual shots against it, then we could probably get on with our lives.\u00a0 However, the Delta variant of the COVID virus is much more contagious than the flu and it is more deadly.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0So now, since 50% of the population refuse to do their part to try to stop the spread of this virus, I will be concerned when I go to the grocery store.\u00a0 I will certainly take precautions but it just seems ridiculous that 50% of the American population can put the other half of the population at risk due to their selfish and ignorant decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday I talked about the collapse of Afghanistan and how there is widespread criticism of Biden\u2019s decision to continue the withdrawal of troops that was agreed to and negotiated by Trump.\u00a0 Many people are talking about how we have \u2018abandoned\u2019 Afghanistan, implying that we should have stayed there to fight this unwinnable war forever.\u00a0 Certainly, some of the loudest critics are the Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find this extremely ironic when we see what is going on in our own country with respect to COVID.\u00a0 \u00a0The largest number of cases of COVID are occurring in those areas of the country where there are low vaccination rates and governors and Republican-controlled legislatures have enacted laws stripping public health officials of the power to take steps to save lives.\u00a0 If you want to talk about \u2018abandonment\u2019 I would argue that the Republican politicians in this country have abandoned the American people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are, after all, at war.\u00a0 The Afghans were fighting a war against the Taliban Islamists in their country.\u00a0 We are fighting a war against a deadly virus.\u00a0 And while the combatants may use different weapons and the battle strategies are different, they are both violent wars.\u00a0 If the Republicans are so damned vocal about Biden\u2019s decision to \u2018abandon\u2019 the Afghans I don\u2019t understand how they can completely overlook the abandonment of their own US citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been less than 10,000 deaths of US troops in Afghanistan over the past 20 years.\u00a0 More than 630,000 Americans have died in the last two years due to COVID.\u00a0 In a \u2018normal war\u2019 (excuse the term because I understand there is really no such thing as a \u2018normal war\u2019) commanders would use all available resources to win that war.\u00a0\u00a0 We have everything we need to stem the tide in this COVID war in the United States \u2013 vaccinations, wearing masks, social distancing, etc. \u2013 and yet many Republicans have chosen to not use those tools and have actively campaigned against them.\u00a0 If that is not \u2018abandonment\u2019 I don\u2019t know what is.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the next time someone starts screaming about how Biden abandoned the Afghans, remind them that many here at home have abandoned the citizens of the US in the fight against COVID.\u00a0 As they say, people in glass houses \u2026..<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"