Tired of Hearing About Covid-19?

Yes, so am I, and just about everyone I talk to, from a distance. From a Distance, isn’t that the name of a song? How crazy is this what our country is going through right now? For the people shrouded in fear, stay inside. For all the rest of us including this 77-year-old physician, I would just as soon be going about my life and my business.

One thing I am going to make sure and do. I gotta stay out of my car. There are 6 million car accidents in the United States per year. Of those, 40,231 thousand die, and an additional 3 million are injured or disabled. So far, we have about 1000 plus or minus deaths from COVID-19. We can save thousands of lives by just not driving. These are numbers from our CDC, and we must trust them as we are following all their directions for hunkering down and dying a slow death inside our homes.

There are about 3536 deaths from drowning every year. We should probably ban swimming pools and swimming in ponds and rivers.

The USA averages about 51 deaths from lightning strikes per year, so stay inside if you see a cloud outside. Look through the window first before going out.

There are 36,338 deaths from unintentional falls so either stop walking, and climbing on ladders or accept the fact that you may fall and die. More likely for us older people of course. All of you elderly, get rid of the throw rugs in your house.

We have 47,173 suicides per year. I am sure we are helping those numbers go up right now. Not everyone is going to do well with social isolation.

Try to help me figure this out. Why do we get so excited about COVID-19 and we seemed to care less about AIDS? I can only surmise that perhaps because the AIDS epidemic seemed to mainly hit one social group, we decided to ignore it. We already know we will let people die so we don’t do something politically incorrect.

So, we will have over fifty million deaths this year from infectious diseases and right now, COVID-19 represents about a decimal point and is hardly mentionable. Why the big fuss? Why not treat and save the lives we know we can. Why is no one excited about the millions of lives lost every year from malaria, cholera, tuberculosis and AIDS? Annually, the US loses about 170,000 lives from infectious diseases.

I get that the talking heads like Anthony Fauci need to talk about their infectious diseases when they can. It is the only time this specialty is able to show their relevance to our society. I understand, it is good to feel important. And they are important. However, we should remember that today the third leading cause of death in the United States of America is healthcare. Does anyone care?

I hear every day; don’t worry we have the best doctors in the world. Then why do we rank 37th in the world in healthcare and last among all industrialized countries in the world? I’ll tell you why! Many Americans do not have access to healthcare. We are the only advanced country in the world without free healthcare.

Let’s all of us try to change our healthcare today. It is best if we do this while a few of us older physicians are around to guide us back into the golden age of healthcare in America when we truly were number one.

God bless America. Rick Redalen, MD, Maverick Doctor

Pick up a copy of my book “God’s Tiniest Angel and the Last Unicorn,” available on Amazon.

Dr. Rick is a retired American physician, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who has done mission work around the country and the world. He is now on a mission to improve healthcare in America. Visit maverickdoctor.com or email him at rickr@maverickdoctor.com.