THIS new variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus of COVID-19 (Deltacron) is not totally a surprise. We have predicted for the past two years that new variants would keep on developing so long as there are unvaccinated people.
Those 20 percent (about 60 million) who refused the vaccines have been “percolating,” replicating, mutating into new viruses in their bodies, which were (are) acting like a giant reservoir (a factory). They are developing new strains of the virus, and acting as carriers, spreading the virus around, albeit unintentionally, but nonetheless, making the situation worse by increasing hospitalizations and deaths, and enabling the pandemic to linger longer, indefinitely.
From the original virus of December 2019, to Delta, to Omicron, and now the Deltacron (Delta-Omicron, first detected in Cyprus.), these are the variants “manufactured” in the bodies of mostly the unvaccinated. Without a warm body, a host, the virus will self-destruct and end the pandemic rapidly. That’s why everybody should be vaccinated. The unvaccinated are at the gravest risk. More than 95 percent of those infected and hospitalized (on ventilators) are unvaccinated.
The massive surges in COVID-19 infection led to about 5 million cases in one week alone, 488,000 two Wednesdays ago, and 1.5 million cases last Monday (January 10), including children, and filling up hospital beds around the country. Omicron is severely contagious. Hopefully, the Deltacron would be as mild as the Omicron, but we do not know yet, Scientists are still observing its clinical behavior, transmission/hospitalization/kill rate, compared to the original Wuhan virus, the Delta and the Omicron.
In the meantime, as a general health caveat, prevention is the best “cure” for a serious killer like the COVID-19 virus. Limiting our travels to essential ones even near our home, avoiding crowds, face (mouth and nose) covering with KN95 mask, social distancing, and frequent handwashing are good preventive measures to do religiously, almost to a paranoid degree (medical vigilance with wisdom and compassion for others).
Personally, as a teenAGED cardiac surgeon with common medical issues, I even use a gaiter over my KN95 mask whenever I go out to the pharmacy, grocery, or UPS store, and do social distancing religiously. Just like a SWAT team wearing two bullet-proof vests in grave instances.
I am doing this because even with the CDC best-recommended KN95 mask, I know I could still get the virus mostly from unvaccinated carriers. When it is inevitable that some people pass by me, I even try to hold my breath till no one is near me.
Overdoing it? Crazy? Perhaps, but health is wealth and fabulous, and life, wonderful and priceless, irreplaceable, as far as I am concerned. I want to avoid any possible danger within my power and control. I have but one life, without spare, and I want to preserve it as healthily as possible and enjoy life as long as I can. My family and I treat this killer virus with humility, reasonable fear, and not with arrogance, carelessness, or recklessness. All of us had our two shots and the booster (with eagerness), and as soon as the 4th vaccine is available, we are ready to take it.
Let us all do what is needed (doing mitigating preventive measures and getting the vaccines plus booster soonest, and the fourth vaccine, if advised) to protect each other, our community, our nation, and other countries by minimizing the transmissions and deaths, and end this pandemic soonest.
As I have frustratingly complained as early as January 2021, I could not understand why the government, which has at its disposal a long proven rapidly effective epidemiologic standard of care protocol accepted worldwide to treat any severe infectious disease and end this pandemic within 2021, did not federally mandate PPEs and vaccination. Legal mandates for vaccination requirements for daycare and school entry in the past several decades have saved millions of children’s lives. And the mandates about smoking, seatbelt, parking, smoke detectors, traffic and driving, littering, etc., and mandates that all persons with active tuberculosis or other infectious diseases be treated, are all saving lives and people have accepted them.
So, why not a federal mandate for vaccinations for all the 330 million people in the United States (except those with medical contraindication to the vaccines), when almost 860,000 have already died so far among the 61.4 million COVID-19 infections?
As I have asked in this column before, is this not negligence and dereliction of duty of the executive and legislative branches of our government? Technically, could the inaction (a malpractice) be legally considered negligent “genocide”?
If a medical practitioner had failed to practice the accepted standard of care epidemiologic protocol when he/she treated a patient and the refusal to follow that proven standard of care has resulted in the death of even one person (never mind 860,000), the physician could have been sued for malpractice, de-licensed, fined, and/or jailed.
So, why can’t We, The People, hold our government culpable, accountable, and liable for these massive infections and about 688,000 plus preventable deaths for not rapidly implementing the proven accepted standard of care epidemiologic protocol, including a federal mandate for vaccination starting Day One when the vaccines first became available?
The fact that the Biden administration wants to mandate vaccination among federal employees and businesses with 100 or more employees proves its acknowledgment that vaccination is vital in our war against COVID-19. Why then limit the benefit and protection to only this small segment of our society? This is a scientifically flawed plan because so long as there are even a dozen, or thousand or a million people unvaccinated (never mind the 20 percent or 60 million who refuse the vaccines), they are enough to enable rapid replication and mutation of the virus in their bodies and churn out more strains of viruses.
Remember the single person, the first victim of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China? He has spread this killer virus that resulted in this global catastrophe, the pandemic of 2019, with almost a third of a billion (with a “B”) cases and almost 5.6 million deaths worldwide.
Had our government federally mandated the use of PPEs in January 2020, and vaccination on August 23, 2021 when the first vaccine came out, the United States could have developed herd immunity and cut hospitalizations and deaths by at least 80 percent (saving 688,000) of the 860,000 who died by now.
Once again, how many thousands more deaths do the Biden administration and the Congress need before doing the right thing?
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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
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The main objective of this column is to educate and inspire people live a healthier lifestyle to prevent illnesses and disabilities and achieve a happier and more productive life. Any diagnosis, recommendation or treatment in our article are general medical information and not intended to be applicable or appropriate for anyone. This column is not a substitute for your physician, who knows your condition well and who is your best ally when it comes to your health.
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Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, a Health Public Advocate, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian and anti-graft foundation in the United States. Visit our websites: philipSchua.com and FUN8888.com Email: [email protected]
