Editorial note: Opinions ahead.
Hello, friends,
This is like the cliche freshman college essay: I want to start with giving credit to News 12 on the germ of this article, which some beta-readers have identified as a bit of a rant, but there are serious problems afoot in Long Island, and it's due to our old pal the Coronavirus. I'm opening with some data, I'm following that up with a personal story, and - at the end of this - I am calling upon Governor Hochul to take significant action to combat the Coronavirus pandemic.
Hospital overcrowding and overload has reached highs that honestly haven't really been seen, at least since the beginning of the pandemic. With the Omicron variant in town, U.S. Case Positivity rates have skyrocketed. NBC News reports that on January 3rd, over one million tests returned positive. Just think about that: 1/330 people in the country came down with CoVID. Child hospitalizations are at climbing rapidly, as reported by Reuters. Seems like Freeport Schools going remote for at least this week was a good idea, now, doesn't it?
Oh: And here's Nassau County's caseload.
Notice how it's kind of just going almost straight up?
News 12 is reporting that Nassau University Medical Center is overwhelmed. That's no surprise. 60% of the hospital's population is there specifically for CoVID, and - if I'm reading the first link in this post right - the other 40% was positive? That's, like, 100%. I think they could have been clearer with their reporting, there, honestly.
At any rate, other hospitals are increasing their requirements for in-patient emergency admission. Virtually anything that can be managed outpatient is being called upon to be handled outpatient, even if that's not exactly ideal for the patient. Then there's the case of the Florida hospital turning away pregnant people because they're overwhelmed with CoVID. You know, because that's a thing.
What's this all mean?
Well, dammit Jim, I'm not a doctor. I'm just a part-time journalist trying to interpret data. What it screams to me is that everyone is catching CoVID at this point, even though vaccinations are definitely keeping serious illness at bay for those of us who have paid attention to the science. (If you've got a problem with that sentiment, just leave now, because we're going deep.)
As to the concrete effects of this new wave of hospitalpolicy changes, I'm just not sure. They might mean that hospitals aren't going to accept non-life-threatening injuries, such as from moderate-to-severe car accidents. "Oh, your arm might be broken? Too bad, get it treated outpatient." It might not! I know people who have had serious surgeries postponed, and while they were non-specific with their reasoning, I'm betting they didn't need to be clear about it.
And the more I write, the more concretely an idea forms in my mind.
I have a story I'm ready to tell:
I know that, due to CoVID, hospitals have put in place a policy in place where, generally speaking, you can't have guests in an emergency room. There are limited exceptions, and this is where we get personal. When my dad was in his last month of life, we decided to take him to the emergency room to see if there was anything that could be done to help him. At that point, he was an immunocompromised cancer patient with suspected internal bleeding fresh off a first-time infusion of Cyramza, so he got in pretty quick - only, I wasn't allowed to go in with him. I stressed that I was his healthcare proxy and power of attorney, that he could not advocate for himself in any effective manner, and they still wouldn't budge. I was told to wait in the car.
Of course, being completely sick and disoriented, he was totally unable to provide a medical history for himself. Totally. I was called back within 10 minutes and sheepishly told they needed someone to help out with him. It was only a short period of torment for a dying man, but it was terrible nonetheless. I'm sure I'm not alone in this exemption regard, but I cannot imagine going to an ER when you're sick and being Goddess-damned alone. It's a horrifying thought, to imagine going through that - and infuriating to imagine my wife going through it. But people have to go through it, nonetheless?
And, in large part, people are going through that because other people are making selfish choices which damn them entirely?!
Enough.
No More.
A Call For Action From The Governor
The U.S. Supreme Court decided in the 1905 Jacobson Vs Massachusetts that states have the power to compel citizen vaccination in the face of a public health crisis. The relevant overview is down below:
I am calling upon New York Governor Kathy Hochul to implement mandatory vaccination, either directly through executive order mandates, legislative mandates, and vaccine passports; or - at least - through existing requirements for school admission and any other mechanisms like mandates for all state workers to be vaccinated. I am calling on all candidates for Governor, including Jumanne Williams and Tom Suozzi, to make this a part of their platform. I am furthermore calling on all legislators to back specific laws being written to compel vaccination.
Yes, we are at that point.
No, I don't care about your self-assigned "Freedoms" in this case, because by refusing to get vaccinated all you are doing is hurting the sick and defenseless out of pure, unbridled selfishness. Vaccines are safe, they will almost certainly not hurt you. The science is well tested and established since the 1990's. The disease is bad enough to warrant it, with one million cases in a day and overwhelmed hospitals. The legal authority was established over a century ago by the highest court in the country. I'm sorry, but you are not - and, unless you are 115 years or so old, have never even plausibly been - "Free" to kill, cripple, and traumatize innocent people by turning yourself into a vector for disease. You do, in fact, have a fundamental responsibility to protect your fellow Human being.
If you have a problem with this? Don't bother arguing, here. Give me an angry reaction and I'll tell you to kiss off. This was and is something of a factual review of our situation, something of a rant, and definitely a sad story.
And I've seen enough suffering.
I'm done.
Jesse Pohlman is an author and recovering teacher from Long Island, New York, born and raised in Freeport. He's currently furious at the state of affairs and the harm it's caused, both directly and indirectly.
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