The World is at war with Covid. Or rather, Civid has declared war on human kind. Wars are won or lost battle by battle, sometimes battles are short and victory declared almost immediately, sometimes battle continues for hundreds of years. Covid looks like a long war and we must prepare ourselves for the battles today and ahead. Imagine we were facing foreign troops marching down our streets, closing our schools, businesses, stopping travel, restricting our movements. Would we not take up arms? Would we not do everything possible to protect our family, our neighbors and our town? I believe we would, so why do so many of us refuse to do what we know will protect us all from Covid, protect our families and save our neighbors?

I am confident in human kinds victory over Covid; however, we must do our part, play our individual roles, do the right thing and take all steps to ready ourselves for the fight to ensure victory. To win this war, we must get vaccinated and continue to get booster shots as often as necessary. We must wear face masks wherever required. We must practice good hygiene and social distancing. These efforts are required to win the battles against Covid Delta, Covid Omicron and more. We have to win these battles to eventually win the war.

Covid has been reported in 500 species of animals. Yes, that cute white tail deer in your backyard is carrying Covid. This is important due to the nature of viral disease. As I understand, a virus that spreads easily does not need to evolve into a mild disease to be successful. The virus does need too moderate to survive in one host when it has access to infect many different hosts. This is the fact that allows Covid to continue to evolve into more virulent and deadly mutations in humans. This explains what we are seeing today where Delta is very deadly and Omicron is very virulent. Thinking about what we have seen over the last two years should lead us to understand that we can expect more variants and likely some variant will come along that is deadlier than Delta while being more infectious than Omicron. We can not run and hide from these enemies, they will hunt us down, we must defend ourselves. These are the battles we have to fight one mutant at a time, one battle at a time until the war is won ……or lost.

Sometime ago I wrote, in response to someone complaining about getting a vaccination that Covid was coming to get us all, that everyone will be infected with Covid several times, that some of us will have minor symptoms and some will die. A friend accused me of being overly pessimistic and dark about our future. This was not the case. My argument then and today is that we can win this war; however it is a war we must decide to fight by using all the tools at hand. Since that was written very effective vaccines have been developed and deployed, monoclonal antibody treatment has been enhanced and deployed in quantity and anti-viral oral medications have been created. These treatments have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and will save millions more over time. Better treatments will be developed so that it will become more effective in battling Covid with each variant. They will help us win the battles and put us in a position to win the war. However, we must use these tools and that seems to be the sticking point today. If 30% of Americans continue to refuse to get vaccinated, claim some unfounded right to not wear a face mask and party like its 1999, then we will lose some of the battles and may lose the war. We will encourage the virus to mutate aggressively and pose an existential threat to mankind.

Imagine being in an army going into battle and finding that 30% of your troops refused to carry weapons! That these troops not only refused to carry weapons, they refused to take cover or protect themselves in any way as they marched toward the enemy, being shot to pieces as they approached the lines. Imagine that you find yourself on this battlefield with wounded and dying people all around you that expect you to care for them all the while exposing yourself to enemy fire. Imagine that for a moment. What would you say to those wounded? Their families? How much sympathy would anyone have for them? Think about this because this is what is happening today in hospitals across America. Doctors and nurses are being asked day after day to care for unvaccinated people, people who refused to wear face masks, refuse to social distance. Indeed, demand some right to infect other people all the while claiming some right to individual responsibility that fails to be responsible and causes them to get sick and die. We can’t win the current battle this way let alone win the war

And there is no doubt Covid is at war with us. Over 800,000 of us have died in this war, a number that grows by 1,000 or more a day. In any other war, Americans would have been up in arms fighting the enemy with all the resources we have. Right now we have some 30% of Americans who are not only refusing to take up arms but are giving comfort to our enemy by using up resources needed for the long term survival of our species.

In summary, wars are not halfway things. The war with Covid is not simple or easy; however, there is a path to victory. Each of us needs to do our part, we need to encourage and demand that our friends, neighbors and families do their part. Everyone must get vaccinated and keep getting boosters until Covid is vanquished. This is the only path to normal life and we must convince everyone we know to get on board and do their part to win the war.

Sjh