Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to okay f Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Brooklyn Bunker.
Speaker 1: So friends, as everyone is preparing to rip off their
Speaker 1: masks and stop social distancing and pretend that the last
Speaker 1: two years did not happen, namely that we didn't learn
Speaker 1: anything from our pandemic um word on the street according
Speaker 1: to the Gothamist, and you will listen to more of
Speaker 1: this in my interview with our friend, our in house doctor,
Speaker 1: doctor Jonathan Metzel. There's a new variant. There's a new
Speaker 1: sub variant um that some doctors are referring to as
Speaker 1: omicron two. In New York, they are referring to it
Speaker 1: as BA dot two b A two, which is a
Speaker 1: center a variant that was discovered back in November that
Speaker 1: has some of the same properties in making of amicron,
Speaker 1: but spreads thirty percent faster than the original amicron. It
Speaker 1: is right now multiplying itself every two weeks, and currently
Speaker 1: one in ten cases that are being identified in New
Speaker 1: York are of this strain. Why do I bring this
Speaker 1: up at a time when folks really clearly everyone and
Speaker 1: it isn't just by party or affiliation. It is really
Speaker 1: through fatigue that people are done. They are done with
Speaker 1: this virus, They are done with living in the ways
Speaker 1: that they have for the last two years, and they
Speaker 1: want to move on. And what this showed me when
Speaker 1: I saw it and I am reading other news about
Speaker 1: what is happening around the globe, is this just because
Speaker 1: we are exhausted and tired with this virus, Just because
Speaker 1: we would like to go out and party again, which
Speaker 1: people are doing, doesn't mean that we can let our
Speaker 1: guards down. Doesn't mean that we shouldn't still be vigilant
Speaker 1: and thoughtful about how often we engage and in the
Speaker 1: situations that we're in, you know, making sure that we
Speaker 1: are still being safe. And I think that just because
Speaker 1: cable news has taken down their ticker of COVID, just
Speaker 1: because we are now have our attention on another crisis,
Speaker 1: right which is the crisis in Ukraine and the potential
Speaker 1: of a World War three and who's overtaken a fucking
Speaker 1: nuclear facility and all of these different things. Just because
Speaker 1: our attention is moving from one crisis to the other,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that we shouldn't think about how these
Speaker 1: two things are colliding. So in my conversation with Jonathan,
Speaker 1: he will bring up the fact that when we are
Speaker 1: at war, when wars have broken out, there is also
Speaker 1: contamination and health issues that go along with that. Because
Speaker 1: you're talking about now, right in two weeks time, two
Speaker 1: million people have now fled the Ukraine for bordering nations, right,
Speaker 1: two million people in two weeks time, and with them
Speaker 1: they are bringing a whole host of health needs. In
Speaker 1: an interview that I will do, that I had that
Speaker 1: will be posted soon with our friend Danielle Campamore, she
Speaker 1: talks about the needs of Ukrainian people with regard to abortion, right,
Speaker 1: And we're talking about how this war condenses, right, all
Speaker 1: of these other things that now you're no longer able
Speaker 1: to do because you have basically your entire livelihood, right,
Speaker 1: whatever you could grab from your home is on your back.
Speaker 1: So we're talking about doctor's appointments, we're talking about mass
Speaker 1: we're talking about abortion, we're talking about COVID, we're talking
Speaker 1: about all kind of different diseases that will now be
Speaker 1: called mingling because there's a mass exodus from one country
Speaker 1: to a multitude of nations. And I think that what
Speaker 1: gets lost, right, because you know in news what bleeds leads,
Speaker 1: and so for years now it has been COVID, COVID,
Speaker 1: COVID well, now, COVID fatigue. Now it's Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine,
Speaker 1: World War three, World War three, World War three. But
Speaker 1: we're not thinking about how these situations are colliding with
Speaker 1: one another and what damage that's going to incur. So
Speaker 1: here's the other thing. Apparently, right now there are outbreaks
Speaker 1: of COVID happening around the world. And what we know
Speaker 1: with regard to the patterns that we have seen over
Speaker 1: the last two years is that we are roughly about
Speaker 1: a month to two months behind areas like China, a
Speaker 1: month behind areas like Western Europe, and right now in China,
Speaker 1: again not really being reported in with any significant amount
Speaker 1: of coverage, because again there is a collective push and
Speaker 1: desire to move past this pandemic, whether or not it
Speaker 1: is done with us. There have been outbreaks. There was
Speaker 1: a rash of outbreaks that happened in Hong Kong. There
Speaker 1: have been outbreaks that have surpassed twenty twenty levels according
Speaker 1: to the Gothamist that is here in New York. And
Speaker 1: then I pulled it up and I started looking, and
Speaker 1: I said, oh shit, Wall Street journalists covering this. Okay, wait,
Speaker 1: New York Times is covering this, but we're not seeing
Speaker 1: it on cable news because cable news is focused on
Speaker 1: the Ukraine. And what's unfortunate is that, what do we
Speaker 1: know to be true, most people don't fucking read right.
Speaker 1: And so what I want to alert us to is that, Look,
Speaker 1: we have reached a point in this pandemic where governors, mayors,
Speaker 1: the President of the United States is basically saying, take
Speaker 1: your health into your own hands. We're no longer going
Speaker 1: to dictate to people what they can and cannot do,
Speaker 1: because clearly it has not worked. Right. We never came
Speaker 1: together as a nation to fight against a virus. We
Speaker 1: came to fight against each other. And that is thanks
Speaker 1: to the MAGA faction, right and Donald Trump. But beyond that,
Speaker 1: you know, you have to take your personal health and
Speaker 1: safety seriously without having to be dictated to. So, if
Speaker 1: you are going to be traveling, you're going to be
Speaker 1: on public transport, whether it's a plane, train, or automobile,
Speaker 1: wear a mask. If you are going into crowded situations, right,
Speaker 1: that are going to be indoors, whether that is a
Speaker 1: restaurant or not. Right, we're getting into warmer weather here
Speaker 1: on the East coast, So you know, God willing, we
Speaker 1: can all just go back to eating outdoors. And if
Speaker 1: this variant, if this subvariant of omicron does spike and burst,
Speaker 1: at least we will be in a season that allows
Speaker 1: us to handle it better than we did in the
Speaker 1: winter with omicron one. So all I say all of
Speaker 1: that to say that the personal responsibility right that we
Speaker 1: have now is we have all of the tools vaccinations, boosters, masks.
Speaker 1: That's it, right, And so you don't need your governor,
Speaker 1: or your mayor or your president anymore to tell you
Speaker 1: how to wear a mask, when to wear one, and
Speaker 1: what to do if by some miracle you have been
Speaker 1: able to stay COVID free this entire time. Knock on wood, right,
Speaker 1: then you know what to do. If you've gotten COVID,
Speaker 1: then you know, God willing, you have antibodies. But what
Speaker 1: I'm saying is this, I take everything that comes out
Speaker 1: of the CDC these days with a grain of salt.
Speaker 1: I take everything that comes out of the Administration these
Speaker 1: days with a grain of salt. I do not believe
Speaker 1: that the decisions that are being made right now are
Speaker 1: solely about our public health I believe that they are
Speaker 1: being made because of politics. I believe that they are
Speaker 1: being made because of capitalism. And so at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, I know what I need to do
Speaker 1: in order to keep myself safe, and that is what
Speaker 1: I'm going to continue to do. And so we will
Speaker 1: get into that conversation with our friend Jonathan Metzol in
Speaker 1: just a moment. The other thing that I do want
Speaker 1: to address today that I think is of no right,
Speaker 1: and I mentioned this yesterday. There is w NBA player
Speaker 1: Brittany Griner, who we have learned over the weekend is
Speaker 1: being detained by Russian authorities on suspicion of marijuana cartridges
Speaker 1: being found in her luggage. Folks, this is what I
Speaker 1: want to say, right, and no one should be made
Speaker 1: an example of or be used as some type of
Speaker 1: political pawn, which is what Russia does when they detain Americans.
Speaker 1: You know. I feel for her family, I feel for
Speaker 1: her wife, I feel for her family, her friends, her teammates,
Speaker 1: because who knows where this is headed and whether or
Speaker 1: not she will at some point in the near future
Speaker 1: be released. There are people that have been being held
Speaker 1: in Russia for a year, right and without some type
Speaker 1: of international outcry or act of government, and right now
Speaker 1: our government is not speaking to the Kremlin. Right, so
Speaker 1: Brittney Griner is caught in the middle. Why do I
Speaker 1: bring this up? Because folks, people are traveling, We will
Speaker 1: all be traveling again. Folks are going to take you know,
Speaker 1: summer vacations and whatnot. You may be passing through various areas.
Speaker 1: Here's what I'm going to offer. Do not travel with
Speaker 1: anything that is not legal in said country and said
Speaker 1: place that you are going to. Do not make assumptions
Speaker 1: that because you have broken things up or you know,
Speaker 1: hidden them in different compartments of your luggage, that like
Speaker 1: you're going to be good. I think that we are
Speaker 1: living in wild fucking times and you should, you know,
Speaker 1: try travel like a girl scout right, make sure that
Speaker 1: all your eyes are dotted, all your teaser crossed, and
Speaker 1: that everything is together, because who knows when things will
Speaker 1: go left? Who knows how they will go left. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you that one time. And this is obviously this
Speaker 1: is before the pandemic. In twenty eighteen, I was traveling
Speaker 1: to Germany to Berlin with a friend and on the
Speaker 1: way back I was like physically accosted by TSA in Austria.
Speaker 1: I had never been like physically groped my hair, pulled,
Speaker 1: my breast, touched like. It was so jarring to me.
Speaker 1: And as I'm looking around, I was like, one, I
Speaker 1: think that I was targeted because of my race, right,
Speaker 1: But as I was looking around, you know, people are
Speaker 1: like yelling, right, don't touch me, don't do this, don't
Speaker 1: do that. Because I was unfamiliar with what the customs
Speaker 1: were as we were passing through said place. And what
Speaker 1: I'm saying right now, as the world is back open
Speaker 1: and people love to pretend that COVID does not exist.
Speaker 1: As you were traveling, and if you're going to be traveling,
Speaker 1: take an extra few minutes to make sure that you
Speaker 1: understand the rules of where you are going, make sure
Speaker 1: that you are taking good care of yourself and whoever
Speaker 1: it is that you are traveling with. Again, we don't
Speaker 1: know where the situation in Ukraine will go. We don't
Speaker 1: know if it will spill over into the rest of Europe.
Speaker 1: We don't know if Americans will start to be targeted
Speaker 1: in different areas that may be sympathizing with Putin. We
Speaker 1: have no idea. But what we do know is that
Speaker 1: it is important for us to take responsibility for ourselves,
Speaker 1: for our own safety and well being. So that is
Speaker 1: my little PSA as I continue to follow the Brittany
Speaker 1: Grinder case and hope that at some point we have
Speaker 1: good news to report, because I cannot imagine. I can't
Speaker 1: imagine the pain. I can't imagine the suffering. And for
Speaker 1: those of us that would love to judge and say, well,
Speaker 1: you shouldn't have done x Y and c, well, people
Speaker 1: do worse, right, people, people have done worse And many
Speaker 1: people have traveled with cartridges and vape pens and this,
Speaker 1: that and the other thing, and it's not a big deal.
Speaker 1: It's not a big deal in our country. It is
Speaker 1: a big deal in other places. And those are things
Speaker 1: that I want us to just keep in the forefront
Speaker 1: in this ever changing, ever shifting landscape that we are
Speaker 1: living in. It is about personal responsibility and the responsibility
Speaker 1: of those around you, folks. Coming up next is my
Speaker 1: wonderful local Wednesday convo with our dear friend, doctor Jonathan Metzel. Folks,
Speaker 1: you know that I'm always excited when it is Wednesday
Speaker 1: and we have our friend house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel
Speaker 1: with us to discuss the latest and of course not
Speaker 1: the greatest news, but we love you, Jonathan, and one
Speaker 1: day we will do a podcast just on puppies. So
Speaker 1: let me tell you what news broke before we came on,
Speaker 1: and news that I think is important given that right now,
Speaker 1: according to the CDC, according to every single governor, according
Speaker 1: to President Biden, we can all just go back to normal.
Speaker 1: That there is nothing more to be worried about. Don't
Speaker 1: look over here, folks. COVID is done well, according to
Speaker 1: the Gothamist, and omicron sub variant is doubling in New
Speaker 1: York just as mandates lift. This is known as be
Speaker 1: A point two. And this virus is an offshoot or
Speaker 1: sub lineage of the omicron variant that just swept through
Speaker 1: New York State. It's kind of like they said, the
Speaker 1: kid's sister, and some experts even call it amicron two,
Speaker 1: and it spreads thirty percent faster than it's sibling, which
Speaker 1: seems about right, because if I remember, Jonathan, omicron spread
Speaker 1: double at the rate that delta did. Delta spread double
Speaker 1: off of what alpha did. So talk to us about
Speaker 1: where we are and what you think about the COVID
Speaker 1: mandate lifting, right, And we had doctor Fauci on the
Speaker 1: show last week. He said, you know, when it's raining,
Speaker 1: if it's a downpour, you have galoshes and boots and
Speaker 1: a raincoat and an umbrella on. When it's drizzling, you
Speaker 1: don't need all of that gear. Right now, we're in
Speaker 1: a drizzle phase. But that doesn't mean that you should
Speaker 1: throw out your rain gear. I said to doctor Fauci,
Speaker 1: interesting analogy, But people don't usually protest the rain. So
Speaker 1: what are you thinking about where we are right now? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it's pretty good my analogy. It just shows
Speaker 1: like the altimists and the pessimists, like what I think
Speaker 1: of I think about it, like do you want to
Speaker 1: walk across the highway when there are three cars coming
Speaker 1: at you or when there are like fifty cars coming
Speaker 1: at you? And so I'm like, you know, if I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get run over by a truck, I'd rather do it,
Speaker 1: you know, like you have to be careful or you know,
Speaker 1: you recognize when you have to be careful. So I
Speaker 1: like his analogy a lot better. I'd rather get red
Speaker 1: than get n over by a truck. Um. But um,
Speaker 1: But you know, it's it's an interesting time, right because
Speaker 1: on one hand, there is a sense there's a kind
Speaker 1: of there's a sense that many people are at the
Speaker 1: end of their rope, right and and that's not just
Speaker 1: about the biology of the disease. It's also politically like
Speaker 1: it like it became it became untenable for blue states
Speaker 1: to keep trying to, you know, have mass mandates when
Speaker 1: there's a convoy of truckers headed your way, who's going
Speaker 1: to protest and all these kind of things, And so
Speaker 1: in a way, it just became a political liability. And
Speaker 1: I've I do feel like this decision was made in
Speaker 1: many ways out of politics, but also just to be fair,
Speaker 1: out of kind of human exhaustion in a certain kind
Speaker 1: of way. And so I think that in a way
Speaker 1: that the sense that people felt like, okay, you know,
Speaker 1: the big O came through. It was a new version
Speaker 1: of COVID that didn't kill most people, and therefore it's
Speaker 1: something we can live with. I think it was a
Speaker 1: calculus that people made relatively carefully. But again, it wasn't
Speaker 1: just a medical decision. It was also an emotional and
Speaker 1: biological decision. Now that being said, and you probably have
Speaker 1: this too, man, I know an awful lot of people
Speaker 1: with COVID right now. Like I'm in New York and
Speaker 1: I've got a lot of friends who have COVID, and
Speaker 1: if this thing is like literally like nobody's got it
Speaker 1: and nobody's getting it, then I'm just like, man, I
Speaker 1: must just have a very very select sample of people.
Speaker 1: You know, my neighbor's got up, my friends have it,
Speaker 1: you know, that kind of thing. And so it's not
Speaker 1: surprising to me, you know, and I us the danger
Speaker 1: is going to be if some new wave comes about,
Speaker 1: which it will and we're not prepared or exhausted or
Speaker 1: some things like that, and so you know, I just think, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the waves for a minute, right,
Speaker 1: because you and I have been doing this now, been
Speaker 1: in conversation, you know, once a week for two years.
Speaker 1: And what we have seen over the past two years, right,
Speaker 1: is that we've seen now three different variants, right, three
Speaker 1: different major variants that have that have engulfed the world,
Speaker 1: the alpha, the delta, and omicron right in two years,
Speaker 1: meaning that roughly every six to eight months or so,
Speaker 1: there is in fact a new variant that is worse
Speaker 1: than the initial one. So I want to understand and again, yes,
Speaker 1: it is fatigue. I'm fucking tired, right Like I I
Speaker 1: too am done and want to go back outside and
Speaker 1: do all of these things. But what do you think
Speaker 1: that that the thinking is honestly behind understanding that omicron
Speaker 1: took us by storm. But we saw this, But do
Speaker 1: you use Fauci's analogy. We saw that storm coming from
Speaker 1: the UK, coming from uh South Africa, coming from all
Speaker 1: of these places a month prior to it landing in
Speaker 1: the United States. Well and again, so you know that
Speaker 1: that's an issue now, right Because again, I mean it's
Speaker 1: funny because I was at the airport and somebody in
Speaker 1: front of me in line said, putin is the new COVID, Like,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's fair, And I thought, man, that's true. Man,
Speaker 1: Like you know, it's like we needed some we needed
Speaker 1: some we did some humanoid villain or something. Um. But
Speaker 1: I do think that the warning signs on this on
Speaker 1: this horizon are still pretty considerable right now. Um. Like
Speaker 1: part of it is that there's a massive wave in
Speaker 1: other parts of the country and for the part of
Speaker 1: the world. UM, China usually get stuff a month or
Speaker 1: two before US. China is going bonkers right now with
Speaker 1: with COVID infections, and this is with a bunch of
Speaker 1: people who had already had the big go and so
Speaker 1: what's happening in China I think is concerning um and
Speaker 1: so yeah, I think that's true. I just think it's true.
Speaker 1: I think that, Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I
Speaker 1: is this administration in your in your opinion, making a
Speaker 1: miscalculus right now? Are we? And not even just this administration,
Speaker 1: you know the CDC, the who like, are we making
Speaker 1: a miscalculation because we're doing so from our emotional exhaustion
Speaker 1: and politics as opposed from a place of science, which
Speaker 1: Fauci and others tell me that they're being led by. Again,
Speaker 1: I think the issue is it became politically unmanageable. I
Speaker 1: think that's really what happened, is it became politically unmanageable
Speaker 1: and there was nothing that we could do in terms
Speaker 1: of mandates. I think that for people like me and you,
Speaker 1: issue is still the same, which is get vaccinated, where
Speaker 1: masks be as safe as you can. So I don't
Speaker 1: think that our daily practice really changes. I just think
Speaker 1: that getting wide swaths of people to do the same
Speaker 1: thing is not It's just you know, I think that
Speaker 1: Biden called it like living with the virus, and I
Speaker 1: don't think it's so much living with the virus. It's
Speaker 1: like our political system was not able to live any
Speaker 1: other way. And so I guess the take home, which
Speaker 1: what you and I are both hesitating of saying right now,
Speaker 1: is there's a lot of COVID in our future. And
Speaker 1: also there's things happening. I mean, what's happening in Ukraine
Speaker 1: right now is a humanitarian disaster of an epic scale.
Speaker 1: But when you have two million people moving with no
Speaker 1: health infrastructure or whatsoever, it's also going to be a
Speaker 1: pandemic disaster quite possibly. And so that and what's happening
Speaker 1: in China. It's just like, I just don't think this
Speaker 1: thing is done with us. But I would again also
Speaker 1: say that I think that the political possibility of you know,
Speaker 1: it's hard, right. I mean I went into a restaurant
Speaker 1: their day without a mask on and I and it
Speaker 1: felt really good. It's felt like, oh man, this is
Speaker 1: just like going back into a restaurant, like I want
Speaker 1: that so badly. But I also know then I thought, man,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna wait and see what offense. I don't know,
Speaker 1: Like I'd read that study that COVID changes the brain,
Speaker 1: it has brain effects that they're finding. COVID cancross your
Speaker 1: brain for the rest of your life, and that's not surprising.
Speaker 1: I mean, it crosses the blood brain barrier. So I
Speaker 1: don't know, I'm kind of rambling to me, but you know,
Speaker 1: I just there's no answer what I mean, Jonathan, this
Speaker 1: is what I do every day. But like you know,
Speaker 1: the fact, the fact is that I've talked to friends
Speaker 1: who either they themselves or they're someone in their family
Speaker 1: has long COVID. And and what we know right now
Speaker 1: about long COVID is that it materializes in a couple
Speaker 1: of different ways. There is consistent fatigue, meaning that you know,
Speaker 1: walking down the street of maybe walking down a flight
Speaker 1: of steps is now really difficult to do. There is
Speaker 1: brain fog, so long periods of time of being able
Speaker 1: to concentrate, i e. You know, work is very very taxing,
Speaker 1: right There is so, There is pulmonary there is heart,
Speaker 1: there is mind. There are all of these things. And
Speaker 1: I think that the trouble here is that I don't
Speaker 1: even think that this administration has even talked about long
Speaker 1: COVID in any serious way. Any time that I have
Speaker 1: interviewed one of the doctors that are part of the
Speaker 1: COVID Task Force. You know, they're they're talking about masks,
Speaker 1: ands and vaccinations. All of those things are important, but
Speaker 1: they're not reminding us that just because you get it
Speaker 1: and it goes and you didn't die, doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: you're not going to be impacted and have some type
Speaker 1: of disability moving forward. As you know, I just got
Speaker 1: off a plane. I've just rushed here to speak to everybody.
Speaker 1: But I just flew in from Denver and and the
Speaker 1: guy sitting next to me was one of these right
Speaker 1: wing weasel zippers. I think apparently he worked for the
Speaker 1: lou Dobbs show as like doing Twitter for or something
Speaker 1: like that, and he was doing this kind of whole
Speaker 1: fake mask thing with like his nose out and all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, And I thought, like, I don't care,
Speaker 1: you know? You do? You do you? I had my
Speaker 1: double mask on. One of my masks was an INN
Speaker 1: ninety five, and I just didn't really take it off
Speaker 1: during the flight. And so I think that's kind of
Speaker 1: where it's going to be, is like I, I honestly
Speaker 1: I have no desire to control the guy next to
Speaker 1: me anymore, because I think it's a losing proposition all
Speaker 1: I can do is like stay on top of the information,
Speaker 1: talk to you about it, do thing. But but again
Speaker 1: it's hard because it's not just like, oh, I'm going
Speaker 1: to go to the matt because I love wearing a
Speaker 1: mask all the time. I hate wearing a mask. But
Speaker 1: I also think that now is maybe not a great
Speaker 1: time to get COVID. I mean, it's never a good
Speaker 1: time to get COVID, especially not right now, because if
Speaker 1: there is going to be another big surge like this,
Speaker 1: you don't want to be sick when everybody else is also.
Speaker 1: So it's a tough one. But I think again, the
Speaker 1: best you can do right now is educate yourself and
Speaker 1: do what's best for yourself, and also pay attention to
Speaker 1: these bigger stories. I mean, again, what's happening in Ukraine,
Speaker 1: what's happening in China? Can you explain more about what
Speaker 1: is like, what is happening in China and where? Well,
Speaker 1: it's just it's just that, you know, just they are
Speaker 1: facing a very major COVID surge across different parts of China,
Speaker 1: and I haven't seen any sequencing. I don't know what
Speaker 1: it is, but I keep thinking, like, man, people in China,
Speaker 1: if nothing else, they know how to not get COVID
Speaker 1: like they've been practicing it for two years. So the
Speaker 1: minute people start doing the same thing but having a
Speaker 1: different outcome, that's when I start thinking, like, man, something
Speaker 1: else must be going on here. And so I'm not surprised.
Speaker 1: I mean, the news about the new sub variant. I've
Speaker 1: been kind of following this on Twitter a little bit
Speaker 1: along with the whole rest of the world collapsing. Um.
Speaker 1: But but but, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's
Speaker 1: what ends up happening in China, is that this this
Speaker 1: new infectious form is what is what's causing that also
Speaker 1: and if we so let's just you know, play Devil's
Speaker 1: advocate for a moment. If you know, if this new
Speaker 1: variant right is similar to omicron, meaning that it spreads
Speaker 1: really fast, Um, everyone will get it, but then the
Speaker 1: symptoms are not as bad, and you know you're not
Speaker 1: hospitalized in death. Isn't hanging over us? Um? Do you
Speaker 1: think that then Republicans were right all of along, and
Speaker 1: that we should have we should have just you know,
Speaker 1: we should have all just gone through the herd immunity
Speaker 1: and you know, those who were going to die, we're
Speaker 1: going to die anyway, and you know, why do we
Speaker 1: need to keep paying attention into this. It's just going
Speaker 1: to turn into the flu. And so their initial you know,
Speaker 1: they're not scientific, So they didn't say endemic and they
Speaker 1: didn't say those things, but they said things like herd
Speaker 1: immunity and things like, you know, we can build up
Speaker 1: to it. Yeah, so they're winning talking point, but it's
Speaker 1: their winning talking point. Well, you know, I loved what
Speaker 1: happened with the trucker convoy this week, which is that
Speaker 1: they were going to have like ten million trucks come
Speaker 1: to come to DC and like whatever. And then and
Speaker 1: then it turned out like everything they were protesting had
Speaker 1: already been overturned anyway, and so they just drove down
Speaker 1: the highway. But then they just merged into traffic, and
Speaker 1: so everybody nobody even knew as a convoy. They just
Speaker 1: looked like a bunch of cars on that road. And
Speaker 1: so I just think, you know, I don't I don't
Speaker 1: think we're in the business of having to tell people
Speaker 1: what to do anymore. But I don't think there's no
Speaker 1: role for public health. I really don't. I think that
Speaker 1: it's important for prob health to educate people and for
Speaker 1: better or worse. You know, no matter what side of
Speaker 1: this you're on, you've got two years of experience with
Speaker 1: this thing right now. And so I think that that information,
Speaker 1: especially when everybody's not doing the same thing, that information
Speaker 1: is more important than ever in a way. And so
Speaker 1: I like this. I like this system of you know,
Speaker 1: the color coding at or high risk, low risk or
Speaker 1: things like that. That's super important. You want to know
Speaker 1: if there's if there's a surge in your area. I
Speaker 1: think that's super super important. Um, but I do think
Speaker 1: we're heading toward a kind of people take the information
Speaker 1: and then they make their own best decision. Now that
Speaker 1: being said, I cannot stand the argument of conservatives were
Speaker 1: right along. They weren't. That we've had like but this
Speaker 1: is what they'll say. No, I know what I'm saying. Like,
Speaker 1: what that pace is is that we've had like seven
Speaker 1: different phases of the pandemic. And so in the beginning phase,
Speaker 1: nobody had any immunity whatsoever, it was important to take
Speaker 1: drastic measures. And then the second round, even before the
Speaker 1: vaccine came out, like, there was a much more lethal
Speaker 1: form of the virus and that might be coming back,
Speaker 1: and so people act who do that act like the
Speaker 1: virus and the pandemic is all one thing, and that's
Speaker 1: not the case. It's changed, and so there are different
Speaker 1: phases of it. So it's just this idea of kind
Speaker 1: of Monday morning quarterbacking, which is what they do. I
Speaker 1: think is it's completely disingenuous. It's a it's a political point.
Speaker 1: It's not a it's not a um it's it's not
Speaker 1: based in reality. If people know that, but it's just,
Speaker 1: you know, they want to protest something. So we take
Speaker 1: off our goloshes, our rain quote, put down the umbrella,
Speaker 1: right did he did? He said? I love that. We
Speaker 1: we we we take off all of this, all of
Speaker 1: this uh heavy duty equipment, and then um, we're out
Speaker 1: in the street and the storm approaches and it rolls
Speaker 1: in fast and we're caught out. What what do you
Speaker 1: think the probability is that we don't all get just
Speaker 1: caught out in the rain, caught out in the shower. Like,
Speaker 1: what do we roll back into, Oh, now you have
Speaker 1: to wear masks on the train, and now we're you
Speaker 1: have to wear masks at school and all of these things.
Speaker 1: Do we easily slide back into that? We're responding to
Speaker 1: the virus and so right now, because people feel like
Speaker 1: the threat level is low, doing all those kind of
Speaker 1: things doesn't make sense. And people are also of course
Speaker 1: itching to get out and the way, you know, in
Speaker 1: some semblance of normal. But I would say that if
Speaker 1: we're facing a situation where all of a sudden people
Speaker 1: start getting really sick the way they did in the beginning, people,
Speaker 1: I think will change pretty quick. So I think we're responding.
Speaker 1: I think we're responding again to the virus itself, and
Speaker 1: I just think, you know, I would just urge people
Speaker 1: to pay attention to their own threat assessment in a way.
Speaker 1: And you know, again it's the risk is probably going
Speaker 1: to go up in New York. It'll be interesting to
Speaker 1: see what happens with the cases. But yeah, but I
Speaker 1: would I would just say if the virus itself comes
Speaker 1: back in a major way, itself will change behavior in
Speaker 1: a way. I mean, think about how quickly. I mean,
Speaker 1: just think about the last two weeks, Like the entire
Speaker 1: world is different than it was two weeks ago. And
Speaker 1: so I just think that really being resilient and being
Speaker 1: flexible is probably the most important thing right now. I
Speaker 1: think if you're stuck in some dogmatic position and the
Speaker 1: virus changes, and you're stuck on some side of this
Speaker 1: or the other, you're going to get screwed. So I
Speaker 1: don't think it's like everybody's going to get wet. I
Speaker 1: think the people who are going to be in the
Speaker 1: best shape are the people who can adapt as quickly
Speaker 1: as they can. I do think to your earlier point
Speaker 1: that I want to circle back to as we close
Speaker 1: out today, is about the kind of double pandemic that
Speaker 1: is happening with the Ukraine right, which is that we
Speaker 1: are watching all of these terrible attacks on civilians and
Speaker 1: we're watching I mean picture is looking like they are
Speaker 1: straight out of World War Two at these train stations
Speaker 1: and at bus depots. What we are not talking about
Speaker 1: when we're seeing these masses of people waiting to get
Speaker 1: out of Putin's literal crossfire is we're not talking about
Speaker 1: COVID and we're not talking about two million people potentially
Speaker 1: with you know, significance amounts of COVID then rushing the
Speaker 1: borders of neighboring countries. Do you think that that should
Speaker 1: be a part of the conversation or much in the
Speaker 1: same way that we I wanted to talk about the
Speaker 1: discrimination and anti blackness that African immigrants are facing in
Speaker 1: the country. People are telling me, oh, now is not
Speaker 1: the time, Now is not the time. Do you feel
Speaker 1: that that is something that is being missed in mainstream media? Well,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, I've certainly read articles about
Speaker 1: the anti blackness that's been happening. I think there's a
Speaker 1: story that really urgently needs to be told there. I
Speaker 1: just don't know what that story is because I've only
Speaker 1: seen two stories, and so I don't think there's ever
Speaker 1: not a time to talk about that. I just I
Speaker 1: don't know what that story. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: story is. It would not surprise me. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: there's some horrible things happening to African immigrants in the
Speaker 1: Ukraine and other things like that. I just I don't
Speaker 1: know enough detail to talk about it. But I do
Speaker 1: know that the way pandemics and infectious illness often work
Speaker 1: in an sort of the first part is that they
Speaker 1: follow political fissures as well as structural fissures. And so
Speaker 1: there's a huge history called humanity of viruses and infections
Speaker 1: being spread by political conflicts, and so we've seen this
Speaker 1: across sub Saharan Africa and now now it's happening a
Speaker 1: lot closer to home in a way. And so the
Speaker 1: fact that political unrest leads to the spread of infectious
Speaker 1: illness is not a new story. It's just it's just
Speaker 1: one that makes a lot more sense to us right
Speaker 1: now because all of a sudden, we're living in the
Speaker 1: middle of all this. And so I would say that
Speaker 1: it's not just about people who have COVID moving around.
Speaker 1: It's also people with no access to treatment, people who
Speaker 1: get sick but there's nothing they can do about it.
Speaker 1: And then all the other infectious ill says that have
Speaker 1: been really saved humanity because of health infrastructure, things like polio,
Speaker 1: for example, or smallpox or things like that. When you
Speaker 1: have two million people on the move with no access
Speaker 1: to healthcare, these are people who aren't also going to
Speaker 1: get vaccinated against things that we have overcome but still
Speaker 1: are always consistent threats. Oh, Jonathan, another day, and we
Speaker 1: didn't we didn't even talk. We didn't even talk about Congress.
Speaker 1: Next week, I'll tell you about Congress. That was quite
Speaker 1: but yeah, I know, And I'm like, yeah, we had
Speaker 1: you know, we have war that popped up. I don't
Speaker 1: know who new variant. Yeah, as always, Jonathan, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for making the time to join us on
Speaker 1: wik app and walk through you know the Apocalypse with us.
Speaker 1: You're a good partner one week at a time, Guys,
Speaker 1: we're doing the Apocalypse when we get a time. Appreciate
Speaker 1: you and now friends for your woke moment of wellness.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm talking to a lot of people who
Speaker 1: are really on the fence about going back into work,
Speaker 1: going back into an office after having worked remotely for
Speaker 1: the last two years. And one of the questions that
Speaker 1: I said to a client of mine, and I want
Speaker 1: to offer it to all of you, is to really
Speaker 1: ask questions of your managers, of your employers who are
Speaker 1: saying you need to return for one day, two days,
Speaker 1: three days, four days, or back for the entire week.
Speaker 1: Talk to them about nimbleness and flexibility. The world has changed,
Speaker 1: how we work has changed so much so that even
Speaker 1: the Governor of New York and the Mayor of New
Speaker 1: York City have said that they think that five day
Speaker 1: work days right are a thing of the past, and
Speaker 1: that we are moving into a space of three and
Speaker 1: a half or four days or just providing people with
Speaker 1: more flexibility to be able to live their lives and
Speaker 1: work at the same time. And I think that it's
Speaker 1: important for us to really not just you know, lay
Speaker 1: down and be given back a life that didn't actually
Speaker 1: work for any of us. Right. And so there is
Speaker 1: an opportunity to build community with your colleagues, right, to
Speaker 1: talk about with management, with your employers about what makes
Speaker 1: the most sense, about how we go back and what
Speaker 1: this new way of working looks like, so that people
Speaker 1: actually feel whole. Because I'll tell you this, I have
Speaker 1: never done more work in an actual office than the
Speaker 1: work is that I do at home. And it's because
Speaker 1: I'm able to break when I want. It's because I'm
Speaker 1: able to go for a walk, I'm able to cook dinner.
Speaker 1: Then I'm able to rest my mind and then go
Speaker 1: back to the task at hand. Our office culture, right,
Speaker 1: if you're outside of the tech industry, our office culture
Speaker 1: is not conducive to creativity and innovation, right. And the
Speaker 1: commuting exhausts us so that by the time that we
Speaker 1: get home, if you have kids, you're short with them,
Speaker 1: You barely have the time and the energy to make dinner.
Speaker 1: We have to find a better way to live, right,
Speaker 1: and that is the key word here is how are
Speaker 1: we living? We focus so much on how we are working,
Speaker 1: but we don't really talk about what is actually working
Speaker 1: for us to live our best lives in the best
Speaker 1: way possible. And so I challenge you that if you
Speaker 1: are in leadership positions in the jobs that you have,
Speaker 1: in the places that you work, to really challenge them
Speaker 1: to think outside of the box. Because many people are
Speaker 1: losing their employees who are saying, yeah, I'm not doing this,
Speaker 1: so I'm going to go to the place that allows
Speaker 1: me to have flexibility so that I can be a
Speaker 1: whole person in my job and not just a working robot.
Speaker 1: So I offer that as a way to say, don't
Speaker 1: just go back to quote unquote normal. It doesn't exist.
Speaker 1: And we can find and we have learned of better
Speaker 1: ways to be in this thing called life and in
Speaker 1: this thing called work without having to contort ourselves into
Speaker 1: somebody's idea and version of who they think we should be. That,
Speaker 1: my dear friends, is your woke moment of wellness. Stay
Speaker 1: woke and stay well. That is it for me today,
Speaker 1: hear friends on woke A app as always power to
Speaker 1: the people and to all the people. Power, Get woke
Speaker 1: and stay woke as fuck,