The Age of Miracles And Wonders And Yet We Are Still Humans

"Even though I may walk into the room thinking, ‘Okay, this is your fault, you did this to yourself,’ when I leave the room, I just see a person that’s really suffering, and that is so regretful for the choice that they made.” https://t.co/nMwzmRCexV

— Charles Ornstein (@charlesornstein) July 21, 2021

“Back in 2020 and early 2021, when the vaccine wasn’t available, it was just tragedy after tragedy after tragedy,” Cobia told AL.com this week. “You know, so many people that did all the right things, and yet still came in, and were critically ill and died.”

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“A few days later when I call time of death,” continued Cobia on Facebook, “I hug their family members and I tell them the best way to honor their loved one is to go get vaccinated and encourage everyone they know to do the same.”

“They cry. And they tell me they didn’t know. They thought it was a hoax. They thought it was political. They thought because they had a certain blood type or a certain skin color they wouldn’t get as sick. They thought it was ‘just the flu’. But they were wrong. And they wish they could go back. But they can’t. So they thank me and they go get the vaccine. And I go back to my office, write their death note, and say a small prayer that this loss will save more lives.”

More than 11,400 Alabamians have died of COVID so far, but midway through 2021, caring for COVID patients is a different story than it was in the beginning. Cobia said it’s different mentally and emotionally to care for someone who could have prevented their disease but chose not to.

“You kind of go into it thinking, ‘Okay, I’m not going to feel bad for this person, because they make their own choice,’” Cobia said. “But then you actually see them, you see them face to face, and it really changes your whole perspective, because they’re still just a person that thinks that they made the best decision that they could with the information that they have, and all the misinformation that’s out there.

“And now all you really see is their fear and their regret. And even though I may walk into the room thinking, ‘Okay, this is your fault, you did this to yourself,’ when I leave the room, I just see a person that’s really suffering, and that is so regretful for the choice that they made.”

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“I try to be very non-judgmental when I’m getting a new COVID patient that’s unvaccinated, but I really just started asking them, ‘Why haven’t you gotten the vaccine?’ And I’ll just ask it point blank, in the least judgmental way possible,” she said. “And most of them, they’re very honest, they give me answers. ‘I talked to this person, I saw this thing on Facebook, I got this email, I saw this on the news,’ you know, these are all the reasons that I didn’t get vaccinated.

“And the one question that I always ask them is, did you make an appointment with your primary care doctor and ask them for their opinion on whether or not you should receive the vaccine? And so far, nobody has answered yes to that question.”

Funny thing;  none of them, apparently, mention Trump; or the GOP; or their GOP representatives/senators, etc.  

Welcome to the Information Age.  Remember when the internet was going to usher in a brave new world of wonders and glorious purpose?  Now what are we burdened with?

Oh, and lest you still think this is somebody's fault, somewhere:  Zuckerberg, Trump, Twitter, FoxNews, what have you:

“I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID infections,” wrote Cobia, a hospitalist at Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham, in an emotional Facebook post Sunday. “One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.”

People just are not the rational decision makers we all assume them to be.  Is government supposed to protect them from that?  Yes, sometimes it is.  Does anyone doubt the necessity of requiring school children to be vaccinated against diptheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, chicken pox?  Aside from the anti-vax barmpots, I mean.  What is happening now is actually predictable, even explainable: people take in information relative to their experience, to their understanding.  I never got a flu shot until I was 65 because, despite my vulnerability to respiratory problems (allergies, mostly), I never got the seasonal flu.  I finally did it because I'm over 65, and decided to reduce my risks.  Alternatively, I got the covid vaccine as soon as I could.

Are these things right, or wrong?