The despair captured in this photo demonstrates how heartbreaking the coronavirus really is. It is a diagnosis not to be taken lightly, but it is just as devastating to one’s family and friends. Our hospitals are overwhelmed and the coronavirus is taking its’ toll on our healthcare professionals. This week, the White House Coronavirus Task Force announced the United States is in a very dangerous place.
In the photo above, Dr. Joseph Varon, chief of staff at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, hugs an elderly patient on Thanksgiving Day. The elderly man was crying while in ICU, and was trying to leave his room. Dr. Varon asked him why he was crying and he said wanted to be with his wife. Being separated from her and the agony of being alone in the hospital became too much for him. But can you imagine how his wife feels? Until he tests negative, he will not be able to see he, and she has to be frightened.
Dr Joseph Varon has worked for 256 days straight with no time off. He is a prime example of the incredible sacrifice those in the healthcare industry have made. He is imploring us to follow the rules for social distancing; by avoiding crowds, washing our hands often, and wearing masks. Is that asking too much? He can’t understand why people are going about their business as usual and neither can I. For one to proceed as normal before the coronavirus hit, epitomizes selfishness on a whole new level.
The coronavirus is brutal; it has taken even perfectly healthy people and mopped the floor with them. Can you even imagine someone you love wasting away and not being able to see them? Can you imagine never saying goodbye to that person? They say time heals all wounds, but I don’t believe anybody will be able to completely heal losing someone in this way. I know there will be some to disagree with me, but I honestly do not think it is possible.
It should not be until one knows somebody who becomes stricken with Covid-19, that he or she starts caring. It seems people’s hearts have become calcified, and I blame a considerable amount of that calcification on the Trump Administration’s part. Donald Trump’s legacy will be one as hate, death, and destruction.
Trump will be remembered in the history books as the president who ripped this country apart by racial hatred. He will be remembered as the president who actively sought to downplay the virus from the American people, and refused to address it on a national level like other countries worldwide. The death of hundreds of thousands is on his hands and the Republican Senate. Always remember, it was the Republican Senate that kept Trump in power – Trump would had been nothing without them making it possible.
I’ve also wondered if the indifference towards the coronavirus is a ramification of the hate filled Trump supporters. If you support Trump, than you support hate - period. I knew there was a lot of racial hatred in this country, but I have to admit the division is far deeper than I imagined. The spirit of hate is alive and flourishing in the United States. Donald Trump deserves that dishonor – he has brought out the absolute worst in people.
I believe another part of this indifference can be attributed to Americans being tired of the restrictions. I understand this, but I find that very pathetic for one to say, “I had enough,” and forgo trying to keep others safe. People want to do what they want to do at the expense of others. It is not right – it is immoral. Those who are not getting their way may have actually been the catalyst behind someone else’s death. You may never know who you killed in this world, but you will in the next.
One bit of good news; the elderly man in the photo is expected to be okay. The hospital anticipates he will released probably by the end of the week. But as of this moment, 270,881 Americans died tragically from Covid-19. And with 13,741,687 individuals having contracted the coronavirus, the death rate is going to rapidly climb upwards. What is so sad and devastating, it just did not have be this way for our country.
