Here we go again

 Why are you not vaccinated against the re-emerging Covid-19 virus?

What's your excuse?

Why are you endangering yourself? Why are you endangering me?

Because you are among the unvaccinated, the original virus has mutated to a more highly infectious Delta variant. That's science. That's what viruses do. They mutate. They evolve in an effort to survive. 

Everything evolves on a planet that revolves.

So is it because you don't believe the science? That's a ridiculous excuse. Your entire body is a walking science project, beginning with the very act of breathing and respiration, where oxygen makes that magical exchange with carbon dioxide in the thoracic cavity. 

(You learned this stuff in school. You know – the place where you had to be vaccinated for polio, smallpox, rubella and other viruses before you could attend. You've already been vaccinated for certain viruses and they have been shown to work. What's your issue with this one?)

The virus interferes with that exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. It's why some people end up on ventilators when infected with Covid-19.

The vaccine interferes with that viral interference, thereby saving your life. Right now, 99.5 percent of Covid-19 deaths are among the unvaccinated. Let that sink in for a moment.

So it's simple logic, don't you think? Get vaccinated.

What, you don't believe the statistics? You think the 600,000 Covid-19 deaths are elevated numbers, fudged by medical officials for insurance paybacks? You think some of those deaths were heart attacks or cancer deaths, but listed as Covid? Death certificates are signed by medical examiners, coroners or licensed physicians. A false document can result in jail time and decertification, something those professionals probably don't want to risk. Trust the numbers.

The rise in hospitalizations is probably the most obvious indicator of the resurgence in Covid. A rise in deaths will likely follow. How many times must we learn this lesson?  Get vaccinated.

Is it political ideology? Why? A public health crisis should not be political. We should not be divided among the vaccinated and unvaccinated, and yet, here we are. Curiously, Republican-controlled states have the lowest vaccination rates and the greatest increase of Covid-19 hospitalization: Mississippi has a vaccination rate of only 33.8 percent. That's the state that currently has 10 elementary school-age children on ventilators. Louisiana is 36.1 percent. Georgia is 37.5 percent.

North Carolina is 42.9 percent.

The coastal states, where most of the Democratic electorate resides, has rates like Vermont, 66.8 percent; Massachusetts, 63 percent, and Connecticut, 62.2 percent. Or near herd immunity.

Former President Trump, a self-styled science denier and a self-styled Republican, once claimed that he took unproven and unapproved hydroxychloroquine as a preventative for Covid, but he got the virus anyway. He was hospitalized for several days and was nearly put on a ventilator twice. He was treated with eight different drugs, including Remdesivir, before showing improvement. The day he was released, he made it a point to arrogantly remove his mask in his best Mussolini impression to show his apparent victory over Covid. Yes. We all want close calls like his.

And here's the kicker: Trump and his family eventually got vaccinated anyway. So if your hero got the needle, why don't you? What's stopping you now?

Is it because you don't believe the news media? Of course. Any mainstream news that doesn't agree with your agenda has got to be corrupted, right? Not like that reliable social media. Disinformation is a huge problem in getting people vaccinated: some folks think there has not been enough testing of the vaccine, others believe injections make you sicker than the virus itself. Some think surveillance chips are being injected into your body, while others think you're being magnetized.

Clearly, the government is out to get you.

Holy crap.

All you have to do is look at the vaccinated world to see that the vaccine is indeed working. All you have to do is talk to somebody who's been vaccinated to find out how liberated they feel. We need to get this done before there's a Gamma deviant. Because, you know, mutating is what viruses do.

Human beings are an incredible dichotomy. We can be so phenomenal in our science, in our arts, in our architecture, in our religions.

And, at the same time, we can be dumber than a bag of bricks, skewed as we are by our ideologies and disinformation. The current Covid surge could get really bad by the time school restarts in a few weeks. It could mean the return of mask mandates and social distancing, and it makes me angry. It doesn't have to be that way.

Get vaccinated.