(11 minute read)
I can still remember the feeling of panic that washed over me. The sound of my newborn’s cries were muffled by the intense pounding in my chest. I had experienced an anxiety attack before; when my dad died and I found his body. I was plagued with them for years after that event. This wasn’t like that but it was close. Pictures of an empty Times Square flooded my social media feed. Calls came pouring in from my husband’s clients wanting to take their homes off the market. It was March 2020. The survival rate predictions for Covid19 were jarring. Would I die? Would my husband? What about our 20-month-old son and now this newborn baby girl I held in my arms? What would we do for income if we didn’t die? The uncertainty was overwhelming.
To make matters worse, we saw otherwise normal and sensible people behave irrationally. I witnessed two men fight over canned goods at Wal-Mart so I quickly grabbed the last jar of Classico Alfredo sauce. I hate Alfredo sauce. Nobody in our home likes it. Have you ever tried Classico’s Alfredo sauce? It’s disgusting. I would rather eat raw eggs. So why did I grab it then? We had more than enough food at home and we live in one of the most prosperous countries in the world. What an irrational thing for me to do. But fear does that to the best of us, doesn’t it?
Although Covid19 at no point in the Spring of 2020 was considered a gastrointestinal virus, people nonetheless hoarded toilet paper. It made no sense but the masses were doing it. So naturally I fell prey and asked my husband: “should we go out and get more toilet paper?” To which he calmly and sternly replied: “No. We will not.” As countless friends and family members became infected with the virus, our initial fears were alleviated. It became clear that while still a major concern, Covid19 was not what they originally predicted or even projected it would be. Phew! The dark days of winter were behind us and we saw our world mostly open back up in the summer.
Flash forward a year later and here we all are – again. A new set of restrictions is released and we all comply. Each time the promise of hope is dangled in front of us like a cat-toy on a string and we all paw at it until it’s ripped away from us. Gyms and Churches closed down. Restaurants were closed. Even outdoor dining was not allowed but Costco liquor lines were around the block. Remember dear Albertans when you could have 15 people at church but only 10 at a funeral? The restrictions made no sense but we all obeyed in hopes that our normal would be returned to us. We know a lot of this is nonsensical. But we grab that jar of Alfredo sauce anyways.
By this point it’s obvious where I’m going with this isn’t it? It is difficult to articulate my thoughts concerning this new mandatory vaccine program via social media, texts, or even phone calls. If you have babies and/ or toddlers at home you know exactly what happens when you try and get on the phone. So I thought I would utilize my blog.
To begin, I am not an “anti-vaxxer” and neither is my husband. Although my heart is extremely heavy for my friends that are. Like most 90s kids, my husband and I are vaccinated. We chose, after extensive research from credible sources, to vaccinate our babies. I also made an unethical and inappropriate choice back in college to investigate the issue of autism and vaccines myself. If my Psychology professor happens to be reading this – my apologies. I shamelessly and bluntly asked the parents at an Autism Center if they vaccinated their kids. Yes, I really did that. If you don’t know me well that might be shocking. If you know me well you’re just shaking your head and thinking: “oh Anna”. In my defense, as a parent, I would never do that now! To those curious, every parent I asked except one had vaccinated their kid.
That one kid who did not receive any vaccines but still had severe autism settled the matter for me. There’s some independent data on this issue that I also read that made some compelling arguments. It’s for this reason that I support my friends who choose not to vaccinate their kids. I don’t fully agree but I will fight tooth and nail for their right to choose. Have we all forgotten our ancestors did just that? Fought for freedom? Now I know you read that and immediately thought: “freedom to infect people!” then you shook your fist at me and most likely cursed me under your breath (or out loud – so lovely for your children to hear). But would you bear with me for a few more minutes as I explain?
Now this is a blog and if you were taught to think critically, you are not at all interested in my opinion. But I will cite my sources below to appease those of you already labelling me a pariah. After all, isn’t that what all of us who are choosing not to get the Covid19 vaccine are? A pariah to society? How could any logical person choose not to get this vaccine? Allow me to elaborate:
Jump on over to Canada.ca and look at these numbers with me. As of September 17th 2021 there have been 1,569,186 cases of Covid19 since March of 2020, and there have been 27,370 deaths (Government of Canada, 2021). That means the death rate is 1.74% which means your survival rate is 98.26%. Let’s look at Alberta shall we? The province who’s had the LEAST amount of restrictions comparatively. Know what the survival rate is? It’s 99%.
As of the data available on September 17th, Alberta has had 277,558 total cases of Covid19 (Government of Alberta, 2021). There have been 2,523 deaths. Which means that there’s a 99.1% rate of survival if you are infected with Covid19. This means that if you get Covid19 there’s a 0.9% chance that you will die from it in the province of Alberta. I appreciate math. It’s the same in every country and it’s available for all of us to see. One plus one always equals two. There’s something comforting about that no? I will answer many emotional concerns surrounding Covid19 below. For now, please continue to briefly look at the math with me.
Zooming out of Alberta and Canada, let’s look at this globally; The World Health Organization states that there have been “226,844,344 cases” of Covid19 and “4,666,334 deaths” (WHO, 2021). Globally that means the death rate for Covid19 is 2.05% which means you have a survival rate of 97.95%. I still like those odds.
What I find particularly fascinating is that our neighbors to the south have an even lower death rate than Canada. Which is odd considering how open they are. The CDC states that there have been “41,915,285 cases” and “670,565 deaths” (CDC, 2021). Which means the death rate in the United States is 1.6%. In turn the survival rate would be 98.4%. Once again, excellent odds of survival.
To be candid, the statistics available at this time are not making a very compelling case. Now next you’re thinking “our hospitals are overrun and the ICU is FULL!” And you are absolutely right. They are. But they are also deeply understaffed and with this mandatory vaccination program our government just released, it’s about to get worse. There are empty beds and even empty units at many hospitals across Alberta. Ask your friends that work in health care. Are there empty beds while the waiting room is full? They simply do not have enough staff. They are overworked, underpaid, and did I mention the lack of staff?
To add insult to injury, our healthcare workers have had to follow asinine and exhaustive procedures which would wear down the best of us. I had a very mild stomach ulcer last year. None of my symptoms were related to Covid19. Nevertheless they put me on the Covid19 unit and a fatigued doctor looked me over, stated he knew this was most likely just an ulcer and was confident it was not Covid19; but he HAD to follow procedure anyways. Putting on and taking off isolation/medical gowns just to enter the room. For a virus that has a global survival rate of 97.95%.
Next the argument is “yes but if we all just got vaccinated things would go back to normal!” Would they? Herein lies my problem. I have lost faith and hope in our government that if I just comply like a good little girl, they will finally stop dangling that cat-toy of hope in front of me and let me have it already. They will dangle something else. Our country has complied with every bloody protocol they’ve laid out. We are Canadians. We are crazy compliant. We are not doing so perfectly mind you, but we’ve obeyed most of these restrictions pretty well.
When I look up the statistical death rates for mumps and who’s at risk (babies for example), you don’t have to bribe or force me to vaccinate my children against it. What’s more is that I would NEVER force my friends to vaccinate their children against that particular disease (which is caused by an airborne virus for the record). If my anti-vaxxer friends had a mumps outbreak, I’m not worried about my kids. You know why? Because I vaccinated them. Why are you, who are fully vaccinated, afraid of those who are not? It’s grabbing that Alfredo sauce to me! It’s hoarding toilet paper for a virus that is NOT linked with gastrointestinal issues. It feels both irrational and illogical.
I know you can still contract a virus if you’re vaccinated but your body has built up antibodies against the virus because of the vaccine. Logically and statistically speaking, for a mumps outbreak I am NOT worried about my children. Vaccinated people can still contract mumps, to be sure. But the vaccinated are far less likely to present severe symptoms or complications. The fear over the unvaccinated concerning Covid19 is just making me question how effective the vaccine even is at this point. Based off the statistical data available to us at this time, I am truly baffled by this level of coercion.
This leads to the next narrative being spun which is protecting the vulnerable for the greater good. Children are unequivocally vulnerable. They do not have choices like we do. They are physically, mentally, and emotionally weaker than most adults. They are not allowed to vote, drive a car, or make their own choices apart from being emancipated. Babies and toddlers are FULLY dependent on an adult. This is prime vulnerability.
If babies and children were dying of Covid19 you can bet your judgmental-little-butt I would be the first in line to get this vaccine. Unlike mumps, babies and children are not in a high risk category for death for Covid19. In Alberta, no one under the age of 19 has even died from Covid19 (Government of Alberta, 2021). NOT.ONE. Your children and mine are more likely to get struck by lightning than die from Covid19. PLEASE just look at these numbers yourself. Do not quote my blog. If protecting the vulnerable meant those without a choice like babies and children, I would be fully vaccinated right now. But I suppose this isn’t a very compelling argument for a generation that fights for the right to have unborn babies ripped from the womb.
So then the elderly and immune-compromised are considered our vulnerable right? They unlike children can drive or ask someone to take them to their nearest pharmacy and get the vaccine. My best friend’s husband is immune-compromised. He is fully vaccinated. I am relieved for him. Those in the highest risk category for death from Covid19 have something children do not – it’s called choice. They are choosing NOT to get vaccinated.
Those at risk also have the choice to self-isolate with government aid. I know people who barely left their home before this virus struck. You can get groceries and basic necessities delivered to your home. If the Covid19 vaccine is as successful as all the other vaccines we choose to get, then the risk of death or severe symptoms is lessened – for a virus that already has an extremely high survival rate. Be at peace with those numbers.
I will concede that the numbers and statistics are significantly higher for those over the age of 70. The death rate jumps to 6.8% for those between 70 and 79 ; and 19.7% for those above the age of 80 (Government of Alberta, 2021). This dear reader, I will admit, is my Achilles heel. I have never known the love of a grandparent or held an elderly person near and dear to my heart. So I can’t entirely sympathize with those of you who do. My father use to always tell me that there were only two things certain in life: death and taxes. Obviously as a believer in Christ, there are now many more things I am certain of.
The death of a parent or loved one is both gut-wrenching and life-altering. Believe me, I know. I do not wish it on anyone and yet I know it’s a reality we all will face. Many of the elderly I know and love are from my church. They are looking forward to that day when Christ calls them home. It’s more bittersweet for them than just bitter and terrifying. Most of them have a peace and confidence in Christ I long to attain myself. I was enraged when I heard tales of warm cloths being placed on seniors’ hands to mimic a human touch during the height of the pandemic. That is inhumane to me. Locking seniors away from family and friends without their consent. My husband and I have met innumerable seniors who have said, and I quote: “I would rather die than endure another year of these restrictions”.
I, like many people, am struggling with the fear mongering and force being used. The division, the threats, the belligerent comments on social media, and the consistently illogical restrictions. Come on you guys: 15 people at church unless one of them is dead, then it’s only 10? You all remember that right? It was back in May of this year. You can blame Kenney for that one but look at what the other premiers implemented.
Remember Francois Legault’s 8pm curfew? But if you had a dog you could break that curfew? So a Quebecois woman was caught walking her husband and “they were each fined CA $1,546” (BBC News, January 2021). It was comical to be sure. But it also highlighted how ludicrous the restrictions were and frankly still are. What on earth is happening in our leadership? The more the government enforces and bullies this vaccine, the more I withdraw. The more pressure and insults anti-vaxxers are getting, the more something within me wants to refuse this particular vaccine on their behalf.
Do I believe this vaccine contains micro-nanos or whatever garbage is being spread on social media? No. I do not. But I am not comfortable taking it any more than I am the flu shot, which consistently made both my father and I far more ill than the flu ever did. I am not sure why, but we both just reacted poorly to the flu shot. So we chose to not continue to get it. End of story. Life carried on. If I would rather get Covid19 than take the shot at this point in time, why can’t that be my choice? You’ve already heard my argument and case for the concerns over it spreading. You now know I am not anti-vaccines. So logically why are you reacting this way? Why the toilet paper? Why did I grab that Classico Alfredo-sauce? It’s fear mongering and manipulation and I will no longer be apart of it.
Fear is a basic and often necessary human emotion. However it can and does cause the best of us to behave in ways we never dreamed we would. History has shown us this. We are sinful beings with a propensity for evil. We consistently spit on God’s face by the way we treat other people and our world. Turn on a little Planet Earth and let David Attenborough’s soothing voice remind you how animals treat our planet compared to humans. Honestly we are the virus. This is precisely why I am increasingly in awe of what Christ did for us on the cross.
Finally to close, I want to thank-you for taking the time to read this blog. My intentions were simply to offer a little hope to those paralyzed by fear. There’s also a lot of people feeling bullied or terrorized right now. I need all of you to know, you are not alone. I will resume the usual topic of Chasing True Beauty in the days ahead. I actually have about a dozen things written that I simply have not wanted to post. Mostly because they’re garbage. I am a mediocre writer at best but I enjoy it nonetheless. It’s kind of therapeutic. To my readers of faith I leave you this encouragement from the book of Romans, chapter 12, that reads as follows:
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:9-21, ESV)
Works Cited
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19)”.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html Accessed 18 Sept. 2021.
Government of Alberta. “Cases in Alberta”. Alberta.ca.
https://www.alberta.ca/covid-19-alberta-data.aspx Accessed 18 Sept. 2021.
Government of Alberta. “Covid-19 Alberta Statistics”. Alberta.ca
https://www.alberta.ca/stats/covid-19-alberta-statistics.htm Accessed 18 Sept. 2021.
Government of Canada. “outbreak updates, symptoms, prevention, travel, preparation”. Canada.ca.
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19.html Accessed 18 Sept 2021
“Husband on leash breached Quebec’s Covid Curfew”. BBC News. January 12, 2021.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55631198 Accessed 18 Sept. 2021.
World Health Organization. “WHO Coronavirus (Covid-19)”.
https://covid19.who.int. Accessed 18 Sept 2021
Chasing True Beauty 
Very well written, can I share it
LikeLike