WEBVTT - COVID Nation 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.640 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wokay f Daily with 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:18.480 me your Girl, Danielle Moody, recording live once again from 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.479 our pod stream studios in Times Square. Folks, there are 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:23.639 a couple of stories that I really want to bring 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:28.200 your attention to because I am feeling this overwhelming sense 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.440 of doom, as I'm certain that many of you are feeling. 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:33.600 But there are a couple of things that I think 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:37.239 are worthy of note. We're going to have our in 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.320 depth conversation as we do every week with our friend 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.720 in house, doctor doctor Jonathan Metzel, to go through where 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:46.960 we are with the latest in COVID nineteen. One of 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.360 the things that I brought up to him and which 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.600 we'll discuss in a bit is a Reddit thread that 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:59.320 came through a Utah I see you doctor in discussing 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:06.280 how COVID nineteen is affecting young people children essentially infants, toddlers, teens, 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.000 and all kids that fall in between, how they are 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.080 getting sicker, how they are dying, how they are ending 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:16.600 up with long COVID and other respiratory issues, cardiac issues 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:18.399 that they're going to be dealing with for the rest 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:24.120 of their lives. We are seeing numbers in pediatric hospitals 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.360 that are boiling over. And what does that mean? Well, 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:30.000 it means that they will not have the ability or 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:33.360 the capacity to deal with other injuries that come in 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.400 that children have that at one time could have seemed 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.000 like they were not life threatening, but because they will 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:41.880 not be able to get the immediate care that they need, 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.760 it will become life threatening. What does it mean to 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:49.920 live in a country that only cares about fetuses, but 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:55.160 once those children are breathing oxygen, living and walking, that 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:59.320 this country doesn't actually give a fuck? What does it 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:01.920 mean that we are living in a time when you 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.600 can ban access to abortion before a woman even knows 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:09.520 that they are pregnant right at six weeks, which, let 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:13.600 me just be very clear, is missing roughly two periods, right, 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:20.440 two menstrual cycles, and that you have in the same time, 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:24.520 these very same people who then are protesting in front 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:29.880 of hospitals and at school boards, threatening health professionals so 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:33.480 that your kids can't remain safe while they are at school. 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:38.920 How can you be at once protesting the right to 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.880 life and then denying actual living human beings that same 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:48.320 fucking right. I feel insane, And so if you feel 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:53.400 crazy to know that you are not alone. We're living 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:57.160 at a time right where you have Republicans that want 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.320 to say that democrats are taking away all of your rights, 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.560 taking away your right to pray, taking away your right 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.520 to infect as many fucking people as possible with a 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.960 killer virus because we are mandating that you wear a 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.080 goddamn mask. There are not a lot of things that 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.280 can save us right now except for common sense, which 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:21.360 I recognize is not actually common right because you have 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.359 a lawsuit that I talked about yesterday of a woman 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:28.680 that wanted to bring a lawsuit against the hospital where 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:33.360 her husband lay on a ventilator from COVID nineteen because 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:39.400 they won't give her husband horse medication. What in the 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:42.880 entire fuck when I say that I believe that there 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:44.960 was a tear in the universe, when I believe that 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:48.400 we are living in some alternate dimension or some mix 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:52.800 of purgatory hell and the apocalypse, this is what the 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:56.840 fuck I am talking about. Where you would rather sue 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:01.320 a hospital which is not a veterinary clinic, for not 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:05.880 prescribing horse medication, right, and then at that same time, 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:09.160 there are motherfuckers that are protesting outside that very same 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.880 hospital saying that they have a right not to wear 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:18.159 a mask. This is indeed hell, and I want people 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.279 to wake up, right. We want to believe that we 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:23.359 are better than we are. We want to believe that 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.400 fifty percent of the population isn't pro death and that 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:30.120 they are literally protesting the right to die and take 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.880 as many people with you as possible. You know, Jonathan 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:36.280 brings up something funny at the end of our interview, 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.000 and when he says that, you know, in all of 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.880 these pandemic movies right that you watch, whether it's World 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:48.840 War Z or you know, just whatever apocalyptic style, walking Dead, 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:53.400 whatever type of show or movie, what is happening right 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:57.360 now would be that instead of the hero right in 0:04:57.400 --> 0:04:59.760 the movie, or the tribe or the group of people 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:05.279 trying to rehabilitate humanity after a killer virus or alien invasion, 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:08.920 that in this reality that we are living in, those 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.640 people would be pro zombie. They would be pro walking death. 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:16.080 They would be going out to try and turn themselves 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.960 into zombies at alarming rates because they believe that that 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:23.160 somehow is the future. It sounds stupid, right, it sounds 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.240 fucking crazy, And that is exactly what people in this 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:30.599 country are doing right now. What is alarming me is this, 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:34.360 This is the first week that children across the country, 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:39.320 all of them, right, you know, from elementary school all 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.919 the way up into higher education, are back to school. 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.560 What do we know to be true? Right? Even though 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.680 we know that things have fluctuated and changed, what do 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:53.839 we know for certain is that at any time that 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:58.240 there is large gatherings right of people that within the 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:02.320 four to six weeks post time, there are spikes in 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:06.800 COVID nineteen. So what can we understand to be true 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:10.200 about the middle of October? It is going to be 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:15.320 a shit show on top of a shittier show. Why 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:21.360 is that, Oh, because we're already experiencing COVID nineteen surges 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:25.800 in red states across this country. Right where you're hearing 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.760 that if Tennessee were to be its own country, it 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:33.320 would be the second worst country of COVID nineteen in 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:38.520 the world. Right. So here's the thing. You have Texas 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:40.960 mandating that no one can marit wear a mask. You 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.480 got Florida doing the same. You got every red state 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:47.279 deciding to be a copycat of who can be the worst? Right? 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.800 Who can be the worst on top of the worst. 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.440 That's where we are. Well in four to six weeks, folks, 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.600 you were going to be overwhelmed with the amount of 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:01.160 stories of children dying, of children being on ventilators, of 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:05.159 them having long term illness. Right that, guess what Republicans 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.880 are going to ensure that. Guess what insurance companies won't 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:12.200 have to fucking cover because that's what they care about. 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.200 At the end of the day. They care about corporations. 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:19.440 They care about making sure that shareholders and CEOs get 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:23.480 the most right while you get the least. They care 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:27.320 about control. They don't care about life. And so I 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:31.480 want us to reframe the conversation that we have around abortion, 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:33.920 because it isn't about the right to life. It isn't 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:36.720 about new life coming in because if you gave a 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:41.360 fuck right about life, then it wouldn't just be when 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:45.600 those cells are forming themselves in uterus. It would actually 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:48.600 be about life outside of the womb. It would be 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.120 making sure that our children are safe, right. It would 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:54.480 be making sure that they have an education, that they 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:58.080 have access to health care, that they have nutrition. In 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:00.960 every one of the things that I just mentioned. Republicans 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:05.560 have actively created campaigns and policies to work in opposition 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.520 to your children being well. It's why yesterday I walked 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:14.520 you through pieces of this cradle to grave legislation, that 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.960 this omnibus of a social safety net that Democrats are 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:20.720 trying to put together. But what they also need to 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:25.040 put together is their messaging that frames or Republicans as 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:29.480 who they are. They are people that don't care about Americans. 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.800 They are people who don't care about workers rights, women's rights, 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:38.280 lgbt Q rights, voter rights, are anyone having rights outside 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.400 of the corporations, to force you into some type of 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.400 new fengled, indentured servitude where you should just be grateful 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:47.880 that you have a job. Who cares if you're able 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:50.000 to go to the bathroom, Who cares if you're able 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.520 to have a lunch break, Who cares if your work 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:56.320 too exhaustion? Right, so long as you should be blessed 0:08:56.320 --> 0:09:00.160 and feel thankful that you have this job, That's what 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.720 Republicans want. That's the world that they want us to 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:06.880 live in, folks. Coming up next is my conversation with 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:11.880 our friend doctor Jonathan Metzel, talking again raising the alarm 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.760 about where we are with this pandemic and what it 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:19.400 is that we need to be paying attention to peep, 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:22.520 so you know that I am always so happy. While 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.320 I don't know if talking about COVID nineteen on a 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.280 regular basis every single week makes me happy, but I 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.560 am happy that our guide, doctor Jonathan Metzel, our in 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:35.080 house doctor here on woke F Daily, has always been 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:38.760 by our side over the last eighteen months, walking us 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:43.920 through where we are, where we're going. Jonathan, you now 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:48.200 right now are in Tennessee. You are back at your university, 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:52.199 teaching in person, and so I'm interested to hear how 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:55.640 things have been going for you there. But before we 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.120 jump into what's happening in Tennessee, I want to bring 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.360 you this read, Jonathan, that is posted in the Salt 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:06.360 Lake Tribune by an ICU doctor that it works with children. 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.280 And this is what he wrote, and this was verified 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:11.440 by the Salt Lake Tribune to make sure that the 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:15.120 doctor was who he said. That he was operating under 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.160 anonymity because of course, in these United States, we now 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:23.040 threaten doctors, We now want to physically assault doctors if 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:24.959 for trying to keep us safe. And this is what 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:30.080 he wrote. Hey, there, friendly neighborhood ICU doctor reporting he's 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:33.079 talking about a death of a teenager that has happened. 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:36.080 Kids are getting sicker this time around, and it is 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:41.200 happening more frequently. This includes newborns, toddlers, and teens. Has 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:44.200 not spared any of them. There are multiple cases on 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.199 the ventilator, which is not something that happened routinely in 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:54.199 children across the country. We are seeing children with respiratory illness, shock, terrible, myocdartis, 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:58.400 and strokes in the setting of COVID. Unfortunately, he continues 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.280 to write, we are also seeing SPY and other viruses, 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:05.679 including RSV spikes that are nearing levels of what associate 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:10.040 with a bad winter flu season. This is overwhelming pediatric units. 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:13.840 At some point this weekend, pediatric ICU patients were spending 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.679 time in the emergency department waiting for a bed, and 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.040 that is not a safe situation. He goes on to 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:26.079 say that pediatric units at capacity is insane. There are 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.160 patients that had delayed transferreds from outlying emergency rooms as 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:33.520 well as because they could not be accepted and transported 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:37.240 in a timely matter. He said, when this happens, negative 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:42.240 things occur. Jonathan, what is your reaction to this thread 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.520 by this doctor who was talking about his particular situation 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.600 in Utah, but using it as framing for what is 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:54.360 happening across the country in children's hospitals and pediatric units, well, 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:57.480 certainly there's so much happening in real time now. I mean, 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:01.360 this is happening now, and so part of the issue is, 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.400 as we know, there's a lot of disinformation out there, 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:06.839 the research apparatus is slow to catch up. But I 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.000 would say, just as somebody who's obviously studying and teaching 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:14.200 about about this issue, it makes sense to me to 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:16.600 hear that for a couple of reasons. I mean, number 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:19.920 one is that of course we know kids under twelve 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.760 are not vaccinated, so there they become de facto the 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:28.480 highest risk, and then the delta variant delivers a much 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:34.440 more potent, potentially debilitating load of virus. Right the viral 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.800 load is much much higher. And then kids are also 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.880 going back into schools, and so I think right now 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.160 is really the very important time to be tracking stories 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:48.840 like this because it just it just for me at least, 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.840 And again I want to be careful because I because 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:55.040 you know, you don't know what's going out online and 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:56.480 things like that. But I would just say it makes 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.239 sense to me. I mean, kids are vulnerable because they're unvaccinated. 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.720 It's a very fraught time, and they're going back into 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:06.560 schools right now, and so I would just say that 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.319 this is a story we have to track very closely 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:12.560 and see what happens. The other the other important part 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:15.440 of what you just said is that it's not just 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.840 about kids getting sick right now. There are two other 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:21.280 major issues. Number one is that we know that even 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:25.120 mild cases can lead to long covid U. One of 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.959 the words in that piece was myocarditis, which I think 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:33.280 is very important, long term cardiovascular effects, long term lung effects. 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.120 And so even if kids aren't getting sick, they're still 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.640 at risk of a long term stabilitating illness. That that's 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:44.120 number one. And then two, of course is before the pandemic. 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:48.520 We use pediatric ICUs for everything else that kids get 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.440 sick of. Often thinks that they that they survive, but 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:54.800 I mean kids have all kinds of other you know, 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:57.160 you just name to think of the spectrum of other 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:59.400 kinds of illnesses that get kids sick. And if there's 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:03.640 no space and those ICUs, things that are preventable illnesses 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:06.000 all of a sudden become much bigger risks. And so 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:08.800 this is a very front time and particularly as kids 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.560 go back to school. You know, one of the things 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:15.360 that this doctor had written too, he said this, simple 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:18.920 things like a minor headbleed after falling from a trampoline 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.880 or small spleen laceration after a car accident can turn 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:26.880 into catastrophes when patients are not being taken care of immediately. 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:30.120 So to your point, he was bringing up that same 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:35.000 issue that we are using this pediatric wards as now 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:39.320 these overflow COVID wards. But what happens to those kids 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:43.000 that are coming in with other issues that aren't immediately 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.760 being taken care of. What happens to them? Right, and 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:49.440 they're sitting on these beds in emergency rooms waiting to 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.000 be seen because we have so many children that have 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:57.480 pressing needs barreling down on them because they've contracted COVID. 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.120 And this is a bigger, untold story of the pandem. 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.360 I mean, m I studied gun violence, right, and gun 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:08.400 death went up last year? Um And why did gun death? Well, 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:11.360 there were more guns, there were more shootings, but also 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:13.200 in many parts of the country, who got shot in 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:17.440 the arm or the leg um that wasn't fatal two 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.640 or three years ago um. But but you're going to 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:24.160 bleed up because there's no there's no er, there's no ICU. 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:29.920 So um gunshots that that that weren't fatal on you know, 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:34.600 on their face um really became fatal because because there 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.800 were there were no beds. And so really this story 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:40.560 is not just about COVID deaths, which is what we're tracking. 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:45.000 It's also like, what's the other impact on our incredibly 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:49.040 burdened healthcare system? And so I just think it's a 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:53.000 very important time for people out there to think about prevention, 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:56.960 preventative medicine. I got my flu shot the other day, 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.720 you know, because I could never get enough shots. But 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:02.960 I mean just other things like that, because it's just 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.320 we we have in our minds and assumption of oh, 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:09.320 that's something medicine can fix for right now, medicine is 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.200 you know, hanging by U dental flos in a way. 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:17.040 And so you know, so in a way, the other 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.960 issue of this pandemic is what's not getting treated in 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:27.600 a way that it used to. That is it for 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.560 Today's Woke, a f daily podcast. To hear more from 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.000 today's show, including my full interview with doctor Jonathan Mexel, 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:37.400 support me on Patreon at patreon dot com. Slash Woke 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.400 a f Power to the people and to all the people. Power, 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:42.800 get woke and stay woke as fuck.