Vaccine and fat musings

Saw a disgusting piece from CNN yesterday that talked to vaccine-stupids, and pretty much gave them a platform without any real rebuttal. That drives me nuts.

Two things:

1. At this point, I don't give a fuck if the stupids kill themselves or their families. I do, however, care that they put others at risk, who just happened to be near one of the stupids, and that they're breeding grounds for new variants.

2. These people almost invariably claim that 'they'll be fine' and then they get sick and go clog up hospitals putting others at risk. The stupids are often -not always- fat and older.

Which brings me to two other points I want to make.

1. While I despite these stupid, selfish asses, I'm of the opinion that we cannot, and should not agitate for, refusing them treatment, or should not use vaccine status as a determinant for treatment, no matter how tempting. Because I'm fat and I'll always be triaged to the back of the line, because it's my own fault (oh ha, as if I wouldn't be thin if I could, LOL. Do people really think fat people don't spend much of their lives desperately chasing thinness?), so since I don't want to see us going the route of using what would no doubt be called a 'personal choice' to be fat to deny me care, I will be on the side of not kicking the unvaccinated out of the hospital.

2. Fat people and Covid. Data looks pretty compelling, that fat people do poorly with Covid. That was what they said, what the studies showed as well, back in 2009 with H1N1, that fat people were particularly at risk. And then... someone did a meta-analysis a few years later and controlled for treatment... and lo and behold, the problem was medical bias: thin people got treatment earlier and fat people got lower quality of care in general. It'll be interesting to see if the small increase in morbidity and mortality in fat people in Covid get smoothed away once we account for how soon fat people got antibody treatment, how often/for how long they were proned etc.

Which brings me to two more points.

1. Approximately 74% of Americans are some degree of fat. 78% of people who have poor outcomes with covid (hospitalization, need of a ventilator, death) were fat. Excuse me while I don't think that the 4% difference is worth blaming every fat person for their own demise over, especially considering point 2 above. The data, btw, is often mis-reported as "78% of people with poor outcomes were considered overweight or obese" followed by '42% of Americans are obese.' Note the difference.... I also find it interesting that the data out of China (30% fat people) did not show an additional risk factor, nor did the initial data from NY or, even, King County. Again, not saying there is no effect of being fat, just that the data is, again, being blown out of proportion, and that it'll be interesting to see over the next few years, if anyone tries to tease out the balance between actual risk and the risk conferred by medical bias.

2. Fat lives are considered worthless. It's been horrific, over the past year and a half, to hear the chant, mainly from wingnuts, but also from the left, of 'well, they were fat, lol, what did they expect?' The immediate reaction after a death is announced was to explain it away "oh, they were fat" or to, in no uncertain terms, blame the victim, or worse, parents who lost a child.

WW recipe stuff

Putting it here so I remember it lol.

I made yam purée the other day, had about 1 cup left over. Today I turned it into brunch: 1 cup of the purée, 2 eggs, a splash of water, 1 small spoonful of brown sugar Splenda, 1/4 cup Kodiak Cake mix, and of course spices.

Total was 2pts for the Kodiak mix, and probably close to 20g protein. It was also a lot of food, I only finished because it was brunch.

But it would be great with sautéed onions as a side for chicken or whatever.

Sad

Anne-Chloe's old gymnastics coach, Dan, died this morning. It was apparently lung cancer, and it was an aggressive and fast one. He didn't tell anyone but his ex-wife/friend/co-gym-owner-for-many-years. His kids didn't find out until last week.

I have no idea how many years Dan was Anne-Chloe's coach. He got her through her ACL injury and back from it, and was always a good egg. Dh and I worked with him many a time on meet set up and tear down, and he really liked dh. It was always fun, working with Dan.

He always wore a baseball cap, backwards, and curly locks popped out from under it. This despite the fact that he was pretty much 100% bald on top, LOL. The gym in in a warehouse at the top of a hill, and there is a small strip of dirt running all the way down, and Dan planted a garden there. He had grapes, and tomatoes, and strawberries, and flowers. Green thumb.

He was, first and foremost, an educator. He retired, a long time ago, and headed down to California to be as much of a beach bum/used book seller as he could afford to be. Then... Jeff, another coach on the team, committed suicide, leaving a whole bunch of traumatized little girls.

Dan came straight back. He packed his old red truck and was back in Washington within a few days, helping the girls get through that horrible horrible time. That's one of those things, as a parent, that you don't forget, the people who truly care.

Last time we saw him was a few years back. We often went up to the gym when we needed a clear view to the West and were up there one evening, probably comet hunting. Dan was closing up, we all called out greetings. Ah well.

I don't believe in Heaven, but if I did, I'd wish Dan sunny beaches, a warm ocean, and plenty of books to read and trade.