Every year there will be a "new" strain of something, the regular flu kills thousands each year with flu shots available to the masses.
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According to this morning's NY Times, COVID killed 4,406 Americans yesterday. I think you'd have to go back to the 1918 flu epidemic to find a daily flu toll anywhere near that big. Pandemics like COVID are serious business; the canceling of Hamvention 2021 was an appropriate response to our current situation.
I find myself suspicious of the correctness of published COVID numbers.
I know that in many areas, if you die because of a motorcycle crash, and they test you as positive for COVID, even posthumously, instead of dying WITH COVID, they count you as a death CAUSED by COVID. A friend of mine who lives in Arizona told me he's seen that happen there, first hand.
I know for a fact they've been cooking the books so to speak in Ohio for several months now.
Back in May 2020, the State of Ohio changed the criteria for being counted as a COVID case, from having had a positive test result, to simply presenting with "COVID-like symptoms". The reason they did that, was because the director of the Ohio Department of Health stated that the PCR tests (nasal swabs) are not very accurate. The problem with doing that, is that a number of common ailments, such as seasonal allergies and the common cold, present some COVID-like symptoms. It took a few months for the numbers to drastically increase as a result of the changed criteria.
If it's happening in Ohio, I have to believe it's happening other places as well.
Now with that being said, older people are more susceptible to severe illness caused by COVID. I had it two weeks before thanksgiving, and my symptoms were mild. Not sure how I got it, but my wife is an RN at a large hospital. And even though she religiously practices infection control techniques, we suspect she inadvertently brought it home from work. Since we as hams are not exactly the youngest part of the population, I'd hate to see a bunch of hams older than me (I'm 60) get sick from this, especially since they are at higher risk for severe illness. In that context, cancelling Hamvention for this year was probably the right call.