by Pa Rock
Senior Citizen Journalist
My sister and I and one of our cousins have been planning a family reconnection-getaway for the past year or so, and that big trip was scheduled to take place in two weeks. We were flying from three different states and planned to meet-up in Boston - and then take a short hop to Nantucket for a week of exploring the small island that was once home to several of our ancestors in the 17th and 18th centuries - and was, for a time, the whaling capital of the world.
But then this Coronavirus mess hit and left us wondering whether all of that commercial flying at this time was particularly smart. Yesterday, after much soul-searching - and with no help or advice from our government - we made a decision to pull the plug on our big holiday - at least for now.
This morning I arose before daylight, as I usually do, to check email and take care of the cats and the chickens - and as I was scrolling through the morning's news I came across a tidbit that caught my attention - bigly! It seems that the Center for Disease Control, an agency of the federal government whose primary mission is reflected in its title, had released a plan several days ago to help contain the spread of the virus, and one recommendation included in that plan was that "elderly" people and those who are "physically fragile" not fly on commercial airplanes.
But the Trump administration, which apparently knows more about public health than the professionals it hires to safeguard public health, did not want to tell seniors not to fly - and it removed the recommendation from the report.
Yesterday an anonymous government source (a whistleblower - or a "snitch," depending on one's perspective) managed to alert the press to the administration's dangerous interference in public health policy.
(My cousin and I will each be 72 this year, and my baby sister turns 70 in the fall. We may not be viewed as elderly when compared to the likes of Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump - but we have all been drawing our Social Security and using our Medicare for several years, so we are, by practical measures, "elderly.")
And our decision regarding the trip would have been much easier to arrive at if our government had just been honest and forthright in letting us know more about the risks of flying. I can't speak for my two relatives, but I am old enough to remember when the government actually did try to serve the best interests of the public - instead of trying to pick the path that offended the fewest voters.
The Trump administration is dishonest to its rotten core, and to believe otherwise is foolhardy and potentially self-destructive.
Wash those hands, stay out of crowds and confined spaces, do your own research, and stay safe - and don't count on the government to be any help whatsoever - at least while Donald John Trump is golfing on our dime.
Senior Citizen Journalist
My sister and I and one of our cousins have been planning a family reconnection-getaway for the past year or so, and that big trip was scheduled to take place in two weeks. We were flying from three different states and planned to meet-up in Boston - and then take a short hop to Nantucket for a week of exploring the small island that was once home to several of our ancestors in the 17th and 18th centuries - and was, for a time, the whaling capital of the world.
But then this Coronavirus mess hit and left us wondering whether all of that commercial flying at this time was particularly smart. Yesterday, after much soul-searching - and with no help or advice from our government - we made a decision to pull the plug on our big holiday - at least for now.
This morning I arose before daylight, as I usually do, to check email and take care of the cats and the chickens - and as I was scrolling through the morning's news I came across a tidbit that caught my attention - bigly! It seems that the Center for Disease Control, an agency of the federal government whose primary mission is reflected in its title, had released a plan several days ago to help contain the spread of the virus, and one recommendation included in that plan was that "elderly" people and those who are "physically fragile" not fly on commercial airplanes.
But the Trump administration, which apparently knows more about public health than the professionals it hires to safeguard public health, did not want to tell seniors not to fly - and it removed the recommendation from the report.
Yesterday an anonymous government source (a whistleblower - or a "snitch," depending on one's perspective) managed to alert the press to the administration's dangerous interference in public health policy.
(My cousin and I will each be 72 this year, and my baby sister turns 70 in the fall. We may not be viewed as elderly when compared to the likes of Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump - but we have all been drawing our Social Security and using our Medicare for several years, so we are, by practical measures, "elderly.")
And our decision regarding the trip would have been much easier to arrive at if our government had just been honest and forthright in letting us know more about the risks of flying. I can't speak for my two relatives, but I am old enough to remember when the government actually did try to serve the best interests of the public - instead of trying to pick the path that offended the fewest voters.
The Trump administration is dishonest to its rotten core, and to believe otherwise is foolhardy and potentially self-destructive.
Wash those hands, stay out of crowds and confined spaces, do your own research, and stay safe - and don't count on the government to be any help whatsoever - at least while Donald John Trump is golfing on our dime.
1 comment:
Why if people stop flying it will impact profits. Just like if we used the test kits developed for free by the World Health Organization then Corporate elitists could not patent the kit to be used in the United States and make profits. Of course you, we, are elderly but if we get ill then hospitals will make profits and if we die the funeral industry will make profits.
But if we act as prudently as our age suggests we should and refrain from unnecessary exposure, wash our hands effectively and frequently, don't hoard things we don't need, and otherwise behave as sane rational adults then we spend less money and shrink the economy and Trump's reelection chances as the same time.
Let the Republican science deniers deny science on this one. It is one voter suppression scheme they didn't think out; thinning the MAGA herd.
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