Brazil and America Continue Massive COVID-19 Surge

The proliferation of racialized violence and protests in America has dominated the new stream which in some ways has covered up the continued problem of COVID-19. The pandemic has not abated, in many states it’s actually increased as economies have open too soon.

America continues to demonstrate the A complete lack of preparedness and a problem around public education. Many states have pushed the reopening of the economy prior to the first wave of the pandemic from being fully complete. This is caused another surge which is really the tail end of the first wave rather than the emergence of a second wave. The uptick in cases will continue to proliferate across states who already have problems controlling the spread of the virus. This will lead many Americans vulnerable and it will slow recovery efforts by overriding initial gains.

Not to be outdone there are other countries that have a similar approach the public health and safety as America and the Trump Republicans,. Brazil is now over taking America for a man one of the worlds worst approaches to the COVID-19 virus. Brazil death tolls and new cases are surging at an unprecedented rate and it won’t be long before the entire country will be grind to a halt and perhaps even exceed numbers found in the USA.

Globally the spread of cases has not yet reached its peak in many of the most populous countries including India. Does a cause for concern especially because the numbers in many of these countries are much lower than reported because testing doesn’t happen.

Testing is one of the best ways to track the virus, and one of the tools that Donald Trump is pushing back against hard in the United States. His unwillingness to acknowledge testing is important pales in comparison to his willingness to lower the numbers. He literally came on to the media and demonstrated stupidity once again. He wants to start testing to reduce the numbers because if their numbers go lower than in his small mind that means COVID 19 is magically disappearing.

Americans in particular need to be more serious with their approach to the global pandemic despite the difficulty in economics slow down and shut downs. The difficulty also surrounds the problem of perceptions. Maybe still don’t believe that COVID-19 is dangerous and considerate merely the flu. This type of miss information continues to spread along with the unwillingness to wear a mask in public.

If local cities do not appear to have many cases it doesn’t stop people from trying to live a normal life. The problem emerges when cases go beyond local capacity to adequately treat patients. Then the dominoes continue to fall as chaos ensues and another shutdown becomes imminent. We are in that stage right now as the first wave of cases appears to be picking up speed again due to re-opening too early.

Re-Opening Too Early? Second Wave is Really the First

Now that evidence has mounted and the CDC has changed its tune surrounding mask wearing, the rest is up to the general population. Behavior Has definitely shifted in light of a global pandemic but it hasn’t shipped it enough. The unwillingness for many Americans to self isolate and slow the reopening of normal life is causing massive upticks in COVID-19 cases.

It raises the question whether or not the increase in cases is actually the first wave of the pandemic finding new legs rather than the emergence of a second wave. The first wave has not yet completed and the reopening in many states happen too soon.

The question many have is whether or not the curve has been flattened enough to accommodate a summer surge in cases. We were hoping for a second wave sometime in the late fall but now it appears the possibilities of another resurgence will happen much earlier.

What can be done? For one, the adoption of a mask wearing is a simple procedure that can help reduce the spread in dramatic ways. However, there are cultural problems around its use. White men in particular are unwilling to adopt a basic pandemic response in order to help other people. Mask wearing is not to prevent a user from contracting COVID-19, but rather stops the spread of droplets to other people. The idea of thinking of others primarily is one that is hard for many white Americans to adopt.

The data around the pandemic suggest that vulnerable populations, in particular visible minority groups, or at an increased risk of being infected by COVID-19. Anything we all can do to reduce the spread as economy is open to early, will help us prevent a massive uptick in cases and the continuation of significant deaths in America.

To Mask or Not to Mask – There’s no Question

Initially, there has been some confusing information pertaining to use of personal face masks to combat the spread of COVID-19. Culturally, There’s wide adoption of facemasks in countries such as China or South Korea. But when it comes to North America there’s been a nonstop push against the covering of the face.

This is rooted in a level of stupidity and a lack of education. However, the CDC and chief medical officers should share part of the blame.

Continue reading “To Mask or Not to Mask – There’s no Question”

6 Tips to Help Cope When Anxiety Strikes

Anxiety is the body’s physiological response to external stimuli. Everyone can feel anxious as a response to things, namely stress. How you handle stress, and prevent anxious feelings, depends on your strategies to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Anxiety, however, also extends into mental illness. Anxiety disorders vary from panic, to social anxiety disorders. Although the approach to deal with disorders should include your doctor, there are tips and tools everyone can apply to reduce anxiety.

One of the challenges to anxiety is dealing with a feeling that you have liuttle control over. Anxiety is unpredictable. Conversely, there are few guaranteed ways to make anxiety magically disappear at a moments notice.

Here are some keys that help reduce anxiety, and more importantly, help guard against the intense effects of anxiety in the future.

Continue reading “6 Tips to Help Cope When Anxiety Strikes”

Grief Amidst COVID

It’s often important to name the feelings. During the COVID pandemic there are a lot of new feelings to process. Whether it’s being self-isolated and stuck in bad thoughts. Or if you have the sickness yourself. Part of maintaining good mental health is step one, that discomfort you’re feeling is grief. Once you can name it you can heal. Here’s an article that’s part of the first step.

https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief

Simple ways to decrease anxiety

Anxiety and mental health are becoming important topics in modern-day culture. We are becoming aware of the impact of our own mental health, what it looks like in others, and how we can manage it. That’s important because the road to health includes tackling mental health issues directly.

Anxiety is but one attribute of mental health, one that can creep up on you without warning and without cause. It’s often a surprise for many people to encounter anxiety for the first time. The physiological response that the body produces is foreign. Knowing what to do when anxiety hits can go a long way to diminishing its affects.

Continue reading “Simple ways to decrease anxiety”

The slow creep of anxiety based on life style choices

What are the things that popular culture doesn’t do well is display vulnerability out in the open. Just look at social media. Teenagers, 20-somethings, 30-somethings, with no life experience are influencers about life and living. What do they know about life? Some? But not a lot.

There’s more to the IG story then meets the eye, especially when it comes to Mental Health.

Continue reading “The slow creep of anxiety based on life style choices”

Always get itemized bills in the American health care system

America has among the best healthcare services and expertise available in the free world. That is if you can pay for it. There’s no other developed country in the world that pays more per capita for healthcare, yet they are also one of the few countries on the face of the planet that does not provide universal healthcare.

Rural Americans would prefer to die rather than pay for healthcare, citing the “socialist” agenda. In reality, the “socialist” agenda is actually a product of a far right-wing agenda that denies Americans basic health services.

So what happens when you do happen to need health services, specifically a trip to the hospital? How do you deal with the massive inflation of prices? Why does a band-aid cost $50? Everything not including the air you breath has a price tag.

Turns out you have a few options on top of your insurance provider. You should advocate for yourself, and press hard to have any bill itemized.

Continue reading “Always get itemized bills in the American health care system”