November 5, 2020
Waiting and watching
For many, the election has added levels of stress to our already challenging situation. Thank you to all who voted, all who were poll workers, all who made the election happen. Waiting for final results is causing anxiety and stress to escalate to even higher levels. I highly recommend trying to limit your media as much as possible. It really helped me to get away from it and stop doom scrolling.
Stress relief is on many people’s minds. The New York Times has some ideas to help this added anxiety. My local health department has some good tips too. And apparently it may be time for me to try knitting again for stress relief.
I am hoping that as the results are finalized, our nation can start to address the surge that is building. Once again we have reached a record one day total of more than 117,000 cases, with the hardest hit the counties that overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Frustrating, because of the resistance to mask wearing in those areas, egged on by politics and disinformation. Now those approaches are punishing those areas with overwhelmed hospitals and testing staff. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has a model that shows we can decrease predicted deaths but 130,000 if 95% of people wore masks.
Should be such a simple ask. Leadership does matter and can make difference not just in deaths, but in the economy. Several countries have kept the pandemic to minimal effect. South Korea and Taiwan were successful with the basics: having a comprehensive approach including education, having everyone wear masks, and contact tracing and testing. Australia has been very successful too, almost eliminating the outbreak, by placing faith in science.
Ah, science, that is what we need to move towards. Away from the politicization of the pandemic to science based solutions. That will help save lives and help the economy recover faster. Who can argue with that?
Wash your hands, cover your nose, keep safe six, thanks for voting and don’t give up your faith
And finally, my caveat is that this is my experience and my opinions, which are subject to change as more information is available, and not related to the organization I work for. Thanks for reading.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/well/mind/election-anxiety-stress-relief-calm.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/us/covid-one-day-in-america.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/counties-with-worst-virus-surges-overwhelmingly-voted-trump/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/virus-spreads-in-much-of-the-us-setting-records-and-straining-health-care/2020/11/05/d0b4067c-1f8c-11eb-b532-05c751cd5dc2_story.html
https://www.jwatch.org/na52734/2020/11/05/how-many-lives-could-be-saved-mask-wearing
https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america?view=total-deaths&tab=trend
https://www.mdlinx.com/news/these-countries-got-covid-19-under-control-heres-3-things-they-did-right/7hk19AR7lXIONNJc1wNFq3
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/australia-coronavirus-cases-melbourne-lockdown/2020/11/05/96c198b2-1cb7-11eb-ad53-4c1fda49907d_story.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/well/mind/election-anxiety-stress-relief-calm.html
https://publichealthinsider.com/2020/11/02/self-care-during-stressful-times/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/well/family/pandemic-knitting-election-stress.html