A RUNAWAY TRAIN


Why does it feel like a runaway train is heading straight for us, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it? Do I need to force myself to stop reading the news because I already know the outcome? I’ve refused to watch the national news since Trump was elected in 2016, but I continue to read online information. More lives will be lost because our insistence on being free will place many of us in an early grave.
Our small, rural hospital is full of COVID patients, with 12 patients on vents as of today and more in medical-surgical beds without vents (yet). We have a total vaccination rate of less than 50% in this county and the adjacent counties because many of the far-righters believe mask mandates are infringing on their freedom, plus COVID is no worse than the flu (in their minds and far-right websites). Tell that to those unvaccinated souls on vents right now. But they’ll ignore the facts and continue with their willfully ignorant beliefs while running around town mask-free and probably COVID infected. Besides, the FACT is that scientists learn more every day about COVID and its variants. Still, the far-right only uses new scientific information to prove that science is inaccurate. It won’t end well because the willfully ignorant refuse vaccinations. COVID will continue to mutate, and the current vaccinations will eventually not protect us.
The former Republican Party Chair in my county has refused to wear a mask and has told everyone that she believes she had COVID last year. Yet, she continued to go around town without a mask. She’s now a community liaison for our state legislator, Dawn Buckingham. According to the former Chair, “God called her” to serve in that capacity. What B.S.! Who knows WTF to which “god” she’s talking?
Playing to the ignorant “freedom fighters” and wanting to be re-elected, our Texas governor has mandated that no public entities can require masks. Children with COVID under twelve also fill hospital beds across the state, and school opens in a few days. We are in the middle of a human-made disaster in the making.
We’re sitting ducks. God help us.




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