Happy Birthday America 2020

Happy 4th of July weekend to all of you who live in the United States. Our country has managed to make it to 244. She is still an infant compared to many other countries in the world. England, the place we declared to be independent of in 1776, is around 1,100 years-old.

Are we going through major growing pains? You bet we are. We’re finally getting racism out in the open. We’re learning to live with a pandemic in our midst. The medical community still has no idea how to cure COVID-19, and there is no vaccine against it yet. Our country hasn’t been more divided in decades, mainly in part because of Donald Trump and most Republicans afraid to stand up to him for fear of losing their positions in government. Growing pains are excruciating.

Getting back to the pandemic. I am astounded at the blatant denial of science regarding this disease—COVID-19 parties where who gets sick first wins a prize, people who are going out in public with no face masks and no social distancing and saying they don’t care about getting ill, those who think it’s a hoax, and those who regard face coverings as a political ploy. I was a science teacher, and seeing and hearing this makes me want to scream.

We have lost 129,576 American lives to this disease, according to the CDC based on July 4th data. Numbers of cases are spiking again in some states. COVID-19 is not going to disappear magically. People being cavalier about it are not only putting their health at risk but also the health of those they come in contact with—strangers and family.

I found a demonstration of how a face mask helps curtail spreading this virus. It also shows a comparison of face coverings.This is the link. If you wear no mask, your exhalations can travel up to eight feet away from you.

The only way we can combat COVID-19 is through science. Please be a part of the solution.

Happy Birthday to America and many more.

Wear your face masks and social distance in public.

HAPPY WRITING.