It’s Still a Life or Death Situation

By Judi Curry

I realize that this article will tick off a lot of people.  Some people will agree with me.  At this point I really don’t care if you agree or disagree, but there is a tremendous problem out there that some are denying really exists.

Yes, I am speaking about the death rate of COVID-19.

Yesterday, at one of the larger shopping malls in the Los Angeles area, there was an “anti-masker” protest.  It was an organized demonstration  and a whole lot of people went to this mall, unmasked. They tried to get into many of the shops that were open for sales as they could.  They coughed in people’s faces.  They fought with the management; they fought with those people wearing masks; they put hundreds of people’s lives at risk because of their belief that COVID-19 doesn’t exist, that it is something that the fake media made up.

It is easier to forgive ignorance than it is stupidity. In this case, it is hard to forgive either. How many times have you heard people say that they didn’t believe this epidemic existed until they – or friends – or relatives came down with it?

How many times have you heard trump quoted as saying that this will go away right after the presidential election? How many times have you heard people say that the numbers are elevated? That there have not been as many deaths as have been reported? Just yesterday the President of the United States made that statement and Dr. Anthony Fauci had to correct him and say, unequivocally, that the numbers are correct; that that many deaths have occurred and there are going to be thousands more after the Christmas and New Years holiday statistics come in. THOUSANDS.

What is it going to take to make believers out of these people? I, personally, have lost a very dear friend to COVID-19; I have a grandson and his girl friend that had it; my niece and her husband have it, etc. Yesterday one of my tenants was quite upset and when I asked him why he told me that 3 of his friends were just diagnosed with this insidious disease.  Although they all know each other, they were never near each other to pass it on.

I sympathize with the restaurant owners, the nail salons, the gym owners, and anyone else that has been told to close their businesses. But rather than fight it – or have illegal gatherings – let’s all do it for 3 weeks.  Wear the mask; close the business; let’s get this disease under control.  The first time a business is opened illegally and someone that might not even know he/she has it exposes all the others in that business, we are back to the beginning again. You cannot disobey the rules and expect that the disease will just disappear.

And as a former principal – let me say something about reopening the schools.  Picture a 2nd grader – 6-7 years old, sitting at her desk with a mask on and she sneezes.  What do you think she will do?  She will wipe his nose with her hand; pick up a pencil and begin to complete the assignment she was given before she sneezed.  Then all the pencils will be collected so that the next masked child can pick up that same pencil and write with it.  Does she have COVID? Who knows? But there is a good chance she might.  And let’s not forget the teacher in the room.  They usually have 30 students; now 15.  So they can be exposed 15 times instead of 30.  Why are they even being put at risk one time?

For those parents that say their child isn’t learning – teach them. It doesn’t have to be algebra, or history, or something else you are not familiar with.  Learning takes place in many different ways – teach the child how to cook. Use measuring skills – translation – math – to put together cookies, bread, meat, etc.  Go online and get a book on carpentry.  Let her play with putting together different objects. Again using the math skills necessary to put together a decent building.  Or get some large paper and have the child draw a tree; or a building; or practice her handwriting. Maybe this is the time to teach her cursive because she won’t get it when school reopens.

Buy some comic books; some magazines.  Reading takes place in many different areas. It doesn’t matter what the text is – what you want her to do is to read.  Turn on a television program; turn off the sound.  Have her write a story about what she just saw, or have her tell you the story on tape.  Keep the mind busy. She doesn’t need a desk to learn.  Have him count the number of birds that fly into the backyard; get him a book on birds so he can identify them.  There are endless things you can do at home to enhance his learning.

San Diego is fraught full of history. Take him to Balboa Park. Let him read about the museums at Balboa Park and then have him write down 5 things he would like to see while there.    There is so much that can be done that is “learning.”

But for goodness sake – keep her or him safe.  Keep the grocery store clerks safe.  Keep the postal workers safe.  Wear the mask.  Don’t spread a germ you don’t think you have that later turns out to be a killer.  Start listening to science and not to naysayers that have no idea what they are talking about.  Remember – science is what rid us of polio; what rid us of small pox; of diphtheria; of measles.  The scientists know what they are doing.  Listen to them.  Keep America safe.