A changeling? Or not?

"I believe our patience will last throughout April, although it will not be an easy ride. But May? That is a horse of a different color. If May looks like April, fraught with uncertainty, I think all bets are off. Many Americans will roll the dice on the COVID virus, and start living somewhat normal once again."

Question - why do we keep getting the flu shot every year (for the common flu), and a percentage of us still get the flu? For example, I get one every year, and this year I had not only the flu once in the fall, but also AGAIN in February - which morphed into pneumonia. The only good news, is when I was being treated for my pneumonia in Florida in February, the doc told me if I had NOT received the flu shot as well as both my pneumonia shots, this bout would have landed me in the hospital.

But I digress. The question on the table is why, when we get the flu shot, do some of us still get the flu? As a pharmacist friend explained to me a few years ago, every year the flu shot is a crap shoot. Why? It mutates. It is a changeling. The drug makers (BIG PHARMA to many), try and guess what this year's vaccine cocktail will be. Sometimes they are close, sometimes a mile off. The bottom line is this - the common flu still kills tens of thousands of Americans each and every year.

Right now, everyone is "eyes open", waiting for the big and expected "spike" to hit this month. And after the spike passes, then what? Can we go back to normal? Will the COVID - 19 killer be vanquished? According to the experts, "maybe" on the going back to normal question, and "no" on the second question - COVID -19 will still be with us.

What we are going through right now is only the first wave. Will we be better prepared when the second wave comes? The third wave? And so on? Maybe. Depends if COVID - 19 is like the common flu and mutates. If it too becomes a changeling every year, the future indeed is hard to tell. 

The questions which are burning in most American's minds right now, are the same ones we have had every day since this all started. When will this be over? When can we get back to normal? Can we go to a baseball game this summer? What about football this fall? Will I have a job to go back to? Is my 401k account tanked forever? Can I stay in my house? 

This virus has done much worse so far than kill 7,000 of our citizens. It has killed the hopes and dreams of many of us. Just like that in this young year of 2020, we have gone from hopeful, to many of us being hopeless - just like that. This microscopic virus is doing all it can to kill or wound the American dream. The question which we need to ask as a country is this - will we let it? Or can we find a way to live with this thing, even if it mutates every year?

I think we can all give ourselves a high five for the job we are doing in Minnesota on following these new rules. If nothing else, the majority of Minnesotans are good rule followers. Social distancing, washing your hands until they bleed, not touching one's face, no gatherings, and staying indoors. I have been pretty good on all of those, although I have strayed a couple times (safely) in leaving home for brief errands. HOWEVER - I can do all these recommended things for a while, but not for a long period of time. THEY ARE DRIVING ME CRAZY!

I believe our patience will last throughout April, although it will not be an easy ride. But May? That is a horse of a different color. If May looks like April, fraught with uncertainty, I think all bets are off. Many Americans will roll the dice on the COVID virus, and start living somewhat normal once again. Especially in Minnesota, where summer is so short, it is marked in days, not in weeks or months.