A Message from Mr. COVID-19 鈥� Again!
Al Owens
Occasionally, I find myself engaging in nostalgia.
In the past, I’ve written about the joys of penny candy; the pleasures of those Saturday afternoon-long kiddy shows down at the State Theatre in Uniontown; and those seemingly endless summer days playing up there on East End Playground.
All of those things can safely fit into the category of nostalgia.
But what about stuff that happened just three years ago?
Does that qualify as something worthy of nostalgia?
I’ve found a column that I wrote in August of 2021 that might fit that criteria.
“A Message from Mr. COVID-19” was my way of encouraging folks to get vaccinated if they’d been hesitant.
“Hello! My name is COVID-19, and I’d like to kill you,” said the first indelicate line in that column.
Mr. COVID-19 was laying down the law. He wanted to let readers know he was coming after them. And he would not miss.
By then (in August of 2021) I’d already been given the initial Pfizer shot at the Pittsburgh VA. And I’d gotten two booster shots at local pharmacies. I felt comfortable encouraging people to take the plunge and get theirs too. (So far, I’ve had a total of six shots. And I’ve been COVID-19-free)
“Today…I’ve come to give you a little advice,” said Mr. COVID-19.
“I’ve heard some of you don’t want to get vaccinated because you believe in ‘personal freedoms,’ and some balderdash about that U.S. Constitution. I’ve never read your Constitution, so I’ll take your word for it.”
Mr. COVID-19, at that point, had been relentless. He’d sneaked into the United States after first being discovered in China in December of 2019. And he caused a complete upheaval of the way many Americans had lived their comfortable lives.
Businesses and schools across America were shuttered; hospitals were filling to beyond their capacities; and spectators of nearly every public event were given mandates to either wear masks – or to stay home.
And Mr. COVID-19 couldn’t have been happier. He depended on the hesitance, then reluctance of politicians to subscribe to the supposed benefits of wearing masks.
“That Dr. Fauci fellow has a lot of nerve with his suggestions about that stuff they call ‘social distancing.’ I love it when people pack into tight spaces and share the same, stale air,” Mr. COVID-19 boasted.
And he added for good measure, “There’s nothing like jumping down the throats of people who refuse to wear masks. Besides, ventilators look so much better than those stupid masks, anyway,” said Mr. COVID-19, while grimly hoping to attack proudly unmasked new victims.
By the time I wrote that August 2021 column, politics had already become a part of the national dialogue regarding COVID-19.
NOTE: In case you didn’t know – these days in the United States everything gets political. Everything!
Mr. COVID-19 knew that sooner or later, many people would enable their political narrowmindedness to cause them to avoid shielding themselves from his wrath. Or they’d think up reasons to avoid getting vaccinated.
Even in May of 2024, some people still swear they contracted COVID-19 because they were vaccinated. That, even though there was absolutely none of the virus included in the vaccines.
You’ll also hear people say they know somebody who got vaccinated – but they still caught COVID-19. So the vaccines don’t really work.
But nobody from the Centers for Disease Control ever said the vaccines are 100% effective. There are some cases of what are called “breakthrough cases.” But they’re quite rare.
According to the CDC, 1,189,603 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States since January 2020.
Many, many more would have suffered the same fate if it hadn’t been for the plethora of vaccines that were first introduced in late 2021.
That certainly doesn’t make Mr. COVID-19 happy.
He says, “Some people tend to believe I’m getting weaker. That the more people vaccinate, the less effective I become. That’s true – but only to an extent. I need your help to keep me strong. I’m Mr. COVID-19, and I approve this message.”
Al Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.