Hearing the song, Stayin’ Alive, by the Bee Gees prompted me to write about it and the pandemic.

I was driving to a Veteran’s Breakfast this morning and surfing the dial when I heard a few seconds of Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees (1977 movie, Saturday Night Fever). I kept humming it and adding verses that I could remember. It did not take long to dawn on me that many of us are stayin’ alive with the pandemic virus.

Part of one lyric goes, feel the city breakin’ and everybody shakin’. We have felt quakes from uncertainty about a microscopic virus, isolation, rigid restrictions, and more in the past year and a half. It has felt like the city was breakin’ and everyone was shakin’. I see that daily with people wearing face masks while driving alone in their cars. Fear!

When fear sets in, another lyric from the song is appropriate – life goin’ nowhere, somebody help me. We are staying alive with Delta surges, breakthrough cases spreading the disease to other fully vaccinated people. Yet, we are stayin’ alive. The virus has over a 99% survival rate. Yet, it can seriously affect older Americans and those with health challenges. We must protect those most vulnerable!

However, for younger adults and children, the 99% shoots up to the 99.9% rate. Is that something to fear? I thought that with the vaccines, we would be approaching herd immunity by last month. Yet, the degradation of the virus to protect against infection is increasing each month. Boosters are a way of stayin’ alive for another six months.

My wife and I were blessed to give the virus a home for a short while recently. We both had a mild case – cough and fatigue only. I had been opining for months that I would decide to get vaccinated (or not) in September 2021. I wanted to see the results of the first six months or so of the vaccine program. I had already decided not to get the mRNA vaccine – new technology and abbreviated testing. Instead, I would opt for a viral vector vaccine.

Yet, six months after the vaccination program started, we see limited viability to protect anyone against the disease. I think that is UNSAT! (a term used often in my early Navy career to describe many things) A vaccine should protect a person from getting a disease, not temporarily offer protection.

What is worse is that the massive increases in new infections are with those fully vaccinated. If a vaccine cannot protect you, what are your chances of stayin’ alive? Boosters extend the warranty another six months, but is that stayin’ alive if you must get another shot only to play Russian roulette with the degradation rate of the booster vaccine?

Yes, our lives are breakin’ and shakin’ with many of us goin’ nowhere. And, we do need somebody to help us – stay alive!

Live Longer & Enjoy Life! – Red O’Laughlin – RedOLaughlin.com

 

 

3 Responses

  1. Treat it like the flu and we can all live ‘happily ever after’. Unfortunately fear and thirst for control are ruling on the two sides and we’re going to be ‘suffering’ with this for YEARS to come.Joy Joy!!!!!!

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