by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
The "flu season" can last anywhere from early October until May, with the peak months being December through February. We are just entering the "peak" season.
I heard on the radio this morning that my state - Missouri - has already had fifteen hundred reported cases of influenza (the "flu"), and three deaths have resulted from the virus. Our neighboring state of Kansas has also had three deaths this year. We may be in for a very rough "flu season."
Missouri and Kansas and other parts of the "flyover" nation have it better with regard to dangers from the flu as more crowded urban areas, because our population is more spread out and less dense. In the cities where people tend to be more elbow-to-elbow, the risk of becoming infected with the flu virus is more prominent than it is in the countryside, but with the ease of modern travel - no one is truly safe.
San Diego County, at the south end of California, is a very urban area, packed to the rafters with people seeking sunny skies and a warm climate. So far this season San Diego County has had over seven hundred reported cases of the flu, at at least six deaths attributed to the virus. The elderly are most at risk, and also people who live in confined spaces - such as institutions. Also, people who do not receive annual flu shots are deemed to be more at risk of catching the flu than those who do receive the shots.
Yesterday four medical doctors and two other individuals were arrested outside of a Border Patrol facility in Chula Vista (San Diego County), California. Their crime? Attempting to set up a clinic to give flu shots to immigrants who were being detained at the facility. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) would not allow that to happen, saying simply that they had never permitted inoculations in the past.
The group of protesting good Samaritans calling itself "Doctors for Camp Closures," intended to give the shots at no cost to anyone. They were responding to the death of a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy who died of influenza while being held in CBP custody.
The CBP agents based in San Diego County, much like their brother agents in Arizona who race about the deadly Sonoran Desert finding and emptying life-saving jugs of water, appear to have no regard for human life - at least not brown human life.
Encouraging policies which will lead to the deaths of refugees and immigrants appears to be a conscious choice of the Trump administration - a well planned and executed choice deeply rooted in the racist policies of people like Donald John Trump and Stephen Miller.
When will America be moral enough to stand straight and declare that everyone has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness regardless of their skin color or where they happened to be born? How much longer can we continue to allow racism to define and defile our country?
Citizen Journalist
The "flu season" can last anywhere from early October until May, with the peak months being December through February. We are just entering the "peak" season.
I heard on the radio this morning that my state - Missouri - has already had fifteen hundred reported cases of influenza (the "flu"), and three deaths have resulted from the virus. Our neighboring state of Kansas has also had three deaths this year. We may be in for a very rough "flu season."
Missouri and Kansas and other parts of the "flyover" nation have it better with regard to dangers from the flu as more crowded urban areas, because our population is more spread out and less dense. In the cities where people tend to be more elbow-to-elbow, the risk of becoming infected with the flu virus is more prominent than it is in the countryside, but with the ease of modern travel - no one is truly safe.
San Diego County, at the south end of California, is a very urban area, packed to the rafters with people seeking sunny skies and a warm climate. So far this season San Diego County has had over seven hundred reported cases of the flu, at at least six deaths attributed to the virus. The elderly are most at risk, and also people who live in confined spaces - such as institutions. Also, people who do not receive annual flu shots are deemed to be more at risk of catching the flu than those who do receive the shots.
Yesterday four medical doctors and two other individuals were arrested outside of a Border Patrol facility in Chula Vista (San Diego County), California. Their crime? Attempting to set up a clinic to give flu shots to immigrants who were being detained at the facility. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) would not allow that to happen, saying simply that they had never permitted inoculations in the past.
The group of protesting good Samaritans calling itself "Doctors for Camp Closures," intended to give the shots at no cost to anyone. They were responding to the death of a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy who died of influenza while being held in CBP custody.
The CBP agents based in San Diego County, much like their brother agents in Arizona who race about the deadly Sonoran Desert finding and emptying life-saving jugs of water, appear to have no regard for human life - at least not brown human life.
Encouraging policies which will lead to the deaths of refugees and immigrants appears to be a conscious choice of the Trump administration - a well planned and executed choice deeply rooted in the racist policies of people like Donald John Trump and Stephen Miller.
When will America be moral enough to stand straight and declare that everyone has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness regardless of their skin color or where they happened to be born? How much longer can we continue to allow racism to define and defile our country?
1 comment:
Some variation of the Customs and Boarder Patrol has been around for 230 years. In 2003 the agency was reorganized. In 2007 it was aligned with BORTAC, Border Patrol Tactical Unit, and BORSTAR, Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue. During the Trump regime it has become a rogue agency defying federal court orders and imposing the Draconian policies of the Administration. They appear to be funneling immigrants into private prisons, not for the expeditious enforcement of our laws, in order to reward wealthy corporations that subsidize Republican politicians.
If there is no profit to be made then no inoculations will be given. If there is no profit to be made then no reasonable health care will be provided.
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