culture

The Choice Was “Comfort Care” or a Trial of Life

nancyvalko culture, education, end-of-life, inspiration, medical, medical ethics

In a November 19, 2025, article by Kevin Reece titled “”Micro-preemie’ born at less than one pound thrives after state-of-the-art careMicro-preemie’ born at less than one pound thrives after state-of-the-art care”, he describes a mother’s dilemma when Annie Babcock gave birth to a daughter at just 24 weeks gestation:

“Annie Babock was in trouble. The baby she was carrying had been diagnosed with intrauterine growth restriction and Annie, her pregnancy at just 24 weeks gestation, was diagnosed with preeclampsia and placental abruption. 

Her doctors in Bedford delivered a sentence she will never forget.

“They said we can either deliver here and do comfort care and let the baby pass, or go to Texas Health in Fort Worth and do a trial of life.” (Emphasis added)

THE PARENTS CHOOSE THE TRIAL OF LIFE

“Nora Babcock was born March 10. She weighed 13.1 ounces and was just 10.5 inches long – roughly the size of a soda can. Rushed into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth, Nora would need prolonged respiratory assistance and a delicate procedure to repair a heart defect. It would be 10 days before Annie Babcock was able to hold her. 

“It was terrifying,” Annie Babcock said. 

“It was our first bonding experience, but it sure was scary,” she said of holding her tiny daughter while the infant was supported by multiple wires, monitors, and tubes.

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

“She came home July 10,” Babcock said. “So we’ve been in the NICU more days than we’ve been out of the NICU.”

Nora weighs 10 pounds now and is, according to her doctors, the picture of health.

“It was a huge shock when they said she was going to be born at 24 weeks,” Babcock said. “I had no idea a baby less than a pound could be born and also live. It was terrifying, but also like miraculous.”

“You look at her now, and it’s hard to even think about that,” Owen Babcock said of his daughter’s precarious start at life.

“When she was born so small I didn’t think she could live,” Annie Babcock said. “And the nurses are like, no, she’s going to thrive.”

A DOCTOR SPEAKS

“A case like Nora is still quite rare, mostly because of her size,” said Dr. Megan Schmidt, neonatologist at Pediatrix Neonatology of Texas and Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital. 

Nora is considered a “micro-preemie” – a baby born before 26 weeks gestation or less than 2.2 pounds.

You’re really battling against nature,” Schmidt said. “And trying to get this body that is not ready to be in this world and be in the outside world, you’re trying to force it to stay in this outside world and to function. It takes highly highly specialized care to even be able to have a chance to have these babies survive.”

“These sorts of things and these innovations that have been developed over the last 10-plus years are things that are making big changes for our babies now,” Schmidt said. “We couldn’t have done these things as early as 30 years ago that we can do now. So there is hope.”

The Parents Speak

“Just the advancements that have been made over the last decade are incredible,” said Owen Babcock.

Owen and Annie Babcock will tell you they have taken a “ridiculous” amount of pictures. They were also allowed to keep Nora’s first blood pressure cuff – barely big enough to fit on an adult finger.

“I think of this little fighter who was ready to come into the world too soon, but she was ready to come fighting, and she never gave up,” Annie Babcock said while looking at the handprints and footprints the hospital gave them – the footprint barely the size of an adult thumb.

“I will tell her she’s the strongest person I’ve ever met in my whole life,” Annie Babcock said when asked what she will tell her daughter when she is older. “I really hope she’s a neonatologist someday. I’m trying to manifest it.”

There is a photo wall in the Babcock’s dining room that includes the phrase – “I still remember the days I prayed for the things I have now.” After their ordeal, they are truly thankful

“I can’t thank Dr. Schmidt enough for just believing in her and not like never giving up hope,” Annie Babcock said.

Hope that they want other parents of preemie babies to know is possible for them too.

“What they do as their work,” she added, “it’s amazing.”

CONCLUSION

This story is heartwarming but also disturbing.

The choice between “comfort care” and more aggressive care can mean life or death for any critically ill person of any age. Families deserve ALL pertinent information and options!

Please Read: I Was Almost Scammed by AI

nancyvalko culture, education, family, Scams

I had heard of scams where family members were called by someone who claimed to have kidnapped a family member and demanded ransom money, but I had never heard of what happened to me.

Yesterday, I received a frantic phone call from my daughter, who said her car had hit the rear end of the vehicle in front of her when it stopped suddenly, leaving a dent in the car she hit. She was hysterical and said that two men exited the vehicle and told her not to call the police or take pictures. I asked where she was and that I would come, but one man took her phone away and told me not to call the police because they had illegal drugs in the car. They told me they would kill her if the police came.

I told them that I just wanted to pick up my daughter, and they said they would tell me directions to a nearby Walmart on the phone.

I frantically started driving, but the directions were wrong. I kept asking the man where to go, but he just called me horrible names and said that he and his friend were going to rape my daughter. She was screaming hysterically in the background.

I called 911 from my car, explained the situation, and gave the 911 operator the number that the men had used to contact me.

Then I called my daughter and found that she was safe and sound at home!

She told me that she had heard of these scams using AI (artificial intelligence) to replicate the voices of victims. This was news to me.

The St. Louis County Police Department is continuing to investigate this case.

I wanted to write this blog to warn others of this scam.

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    New Dementia Directive Developed to Avoid Late-Stage Dementia

    nancyvalko advance directives, Alzheimer's, assisted suicide, Cancer, culture, dementia, end-of-life, euthanasia, food and water, law, medical, medical ethics

    In the September 25, 2025, issue of the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, there is a shocking article titled “New VSED Advance Directive: Improved Documentation to Avoid Late-Stage Dementia.” VSED means voluntary stopping of eating and drinking.

    The authors state:

    “People use advance directives to express preferences that direct their future care when they lack decision-making capacity. One form of advance directive, a “dementia directive,” records preferences about living in various stages of dementia. This is important because many Americans want to avoid living with advanced progressive dementia. Unfortunately, traditional advance directives cannot dependably achieve this goal. In contrast, some dementia directives can achieve this goal by directing cessation of manually assisted feeding and drinking. (Emphasis added)

    We proceed in six stages. First, we review the prevalence of advanced dementia. Second, we identify the disadvantages of another option for accomplishing the goal of not living into advanced dementia, preemptive VSED. Third, we distinguish notable court cases where dementia directives were unsuccessful. Fourth, we review nine prominent dementia directives, noting how the Northwest Justice Project’s Advance Directive for VSED remedies those shortcomings. Fifth, we review this directive’s legal status. Sixth, we articulate its ethical justification.”

    CONCLUSION

    I have had a lot of experience caring for people with Alzheimer’s, both personally and professionally. I have written several blogs over the years, such as “Five Things my Mother (and Daughter) Taught Me about Caring for People with Dementia” (2016), Marketing Death and Alzheimer’s Disease (2019), and Alzheimer’s Association Ends Agreement with Compassion and Choices, Marketing Death and Alzheimer’s Disease (2023). In 1988, I wrote an op-ed published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch titled “FEEDING IS NOT EXTRAORDINARY CARE– DECISION IN THE NANCY CRUZAN CASE ADDS TO THE LIST OF EXPENDABLE PEOPLE“

    I remember when my mother was first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and thyroid cancer. She needed a tracheostomy (a tube in her windpipe), but was able to eat by mouth.

    I was shocked when one doctor asked if we wanted her fed, and I responded angrily, “She gets up and eats ice cream out of the refrigerator! Do you want me to tackle her?!”

    Of course, I knew what he meant, but he got the message.

    Eventually, my mother died peacefully in her sleep at a nursing home after enjoying a meal and laughter with the whole family. It was the kind of death she told me she wanted.

    Unfortunately, my younger brother developed Alzheimer’s and diabetes and was critically injured in a fall down the stairs last October. I was able to calm him and carefully feed him.

    The doctor recommended a feeding tube to ensure he was getting adequate nutrition, especially for his diabetes.

    However, a palliative care team was called in and disagreed with the doctor, telling my sister-in-law that my brother was not going to get better anyway.

    I explained to the family that a small feeding tube was available and comfortable, but the family rejected that option.

    It took several long days for him to die.

    No wonder assisted suicide is being considered for Alzheimer’s patients!

    SUPREME COURT RULES THAT STATES MAY DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD

    nancyvalko abortion, culture, education, law, media, medical, nursing, Planned Parenthood, pro-life

    Supreme Court clears way for states to kick Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid – POLITICO

    A stunning 6-3 Supreme Court decision on June 26, 2025 has now cleared the way for states to exclude Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs, concluding that federal law doesn’t allow health care providers or patients to sue if a state violates a provision of federal law guaranteeing the Medicaid patients can visit their preferred provider.

    According to Politico:

    “The decision rejected a challenge to South Carolina’s 2018 expulsion of Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program. It will likely allow other conservative states to similarly expel reproductive and sexual health clinics — shrinking the already narrow network of providers available in the health insurance program for low-income Americans.”

    and

    “Defunding” Planned Parenthood is a goal of many conservatives, who object to its abortion services. Federal law has long banned federal money from being used for abortions. But Planned Parenthood clinics provide many other health care services that are typically eligible for payment under Medicaid.

    Thursday’s ruling will make it easier for states to deprive Planned Parenthood — and other clinics that provide abortions — from receiving Medicaid payments for any of their non-abortion-related care.”

    BACKGROUND

    As I wrote in my December 14, 2018 blog, “Why is the US Supreme Court Ducking the Issue of States Defunding Planned Parenthood?”:

    “Most of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding is from Medicaid reimbursements for preventive care, and some is from Title X. At least 60% of Planned Parenthood patients rely on public health programs like Medicaid and Title X for preventive and primary care.” (Emphasis added)

    According to a Lozier Institute Report, in its latest report 2016-2017, Planned Parenthood received “$543.7 million in funds from all levels of government in that fiscal year…primarily from the Medicaid program”. (All emphasis added)

    CONCLUSION

    Ironically, although the brief by Planned Parenthood of Gulf Coast  to the Supreme Court insisted that their clinics “..provide essential medical care to thousands of low-income Louisiana residents through Medicaid” and “offer a range of services, including annual physical exams, screenings for breast cancer and cervical cancer, contraception, pregnancy testing and counseling, and other preventative health services”, the reality is that there are many more places, such as federally qualified community health centers (which do not provide abortions) that provide more comprehensive health care services than those offered by Planned Parenthood.

    On a personal note, several years ago my late daughter Marie secretly went to a Planned Parenthood clinic for a possible sexually transmitted disease. She finally admitted this to me when her symptoms grew worse. I immediately took her to my own gynecologist who had to perform surgery to remove part of her cervix to deal with the damage.

    Planned Parenthood had missed the diagnosis.

    MY “WORST” PATIENT

    nancyvalko culture, faith, medical ethics, nursing, pro-life

    I was a newly divorced mother of three young children when I returned to nursing to support our little family.

    I had been a happily stay-at-home mom for years until my husband had a mental breakdown, took all our money, and fled the state after one of our children died, but I was grateful to find a job on an oncology unit and some childcare.

    I was a little nervous about being a working nurse again, but when I started my first day back, I was startled by loud shouting from a patient’s room, even through the door was closed.

    I asked what was going on and the other nurses told me that the patient was abusive and shouting all the time, even though he didn’t seem in pain.

    The other nurses said they had all agreed to change nurses every day because he was so nasty and they told me I was going to be assigned to him later.

    I read the man’s chart and talked to the man’s doctor to ask him what was going on. I was shocked when the doctor said he thought the man was “evil”! I asked the doctor “Like Hannibal Lecter in the movie Silence of the Lambs?” He said yes and I felt a cold chill.

    So I made a plan.

    When my turn came up to care for the man, I asked to have him all week on the night shift. “No problem!”, the other nurses said.

    The first night, the man didn’t sleep and kept shouting loudly. He ignored my questioning so I sat next to his bed and tried to understand what he was shouting.

    I discovered that he was enraged and cursing God Himself. I listened quietly until he stopped.

    After a while, I held his hand and every time he started to yell again, I replied “God still loves you” over and over until he eventually he fell asleep,

    This went on night after night until one night he stopped and slept through the night.

    The next day, he woke up and said he wanted to take a walk so I took him to the hallway just as the day shift came in.

    The man smiled at them and said “Good morning, ladies!” Everyone was stunned but his whole attitude changed from then on.

    Weeks later, I met a student nurse who asked how he was doing. She said she had made a big mistake with his portacath IV access and had to have it replaced surgically. She was devastated but when she apologized, he told her not to worry and that he was fine.

    The student told me that she was the nicest patient she ever had!

    I told her my story and said that sensitively caring for the most difficult patients can be the greatest reward of all!

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    “Suicide Helpline” in Canada Suggested Euthanasia for a Person with Disabilities

    nancyvalko assisted suicide, Compassion & Choices, culture, drug addiction, education, euthanasia, law, medical ethics, mental health, nursing

    In a stunning article on Ales Schadenberg’s May 31, 202 blog titled “Suicide helpline suggested euthanasia for my disabled friend”, Meghan Schrader, a disability justice advocate and scholar, warns that “it is best to nip the USA assisted suicide movement in the bud and not let that movement get its foot in the door” and tells the story of her Canadian friend “Amy”. (Emphasis added)

    Ms. Schrader writes that Amy reached out to her for help after Canada legalized euthanasia for disabled people in 2021.

    “Amy had endured child abuse, which left Amy with PTSD and physical injuries that caused severe chronic pain. As an indigent disabled person Amy was unable to access thorough medical treatment for these disabilities, so even though Amy wanted to live and was deeply offended by Canada’s decision to expand euthanasia to people with disabilities, Amy’s suffering was so great that Amy thought constantly of dying by “MAiD” (Medical Aid in Dying).”

    “However, when Amy called a mental health and suicide crisis support hotline for poor people and asked the operator for help fighting against these thoughts, the operator said, “Well, MAiD is a legit and legal option. Maybe it’s something you should consider. The medical system seems to be failing you. And you are never going to get the opiate pain medication that you think you need.” (Emphasis added)”

    “With help from about ten different people, including the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Amy was eventually able to take a train four hours away from home and show up in the emergency room of a hospital that opposes “MAiD” and specializes in chronic pain and mental illness. Amy finally received excellent care. Although Amy sometimes still has symptoms of chronic pain and PTSD and life is still often quite a struggle, Amy’s symptoms are manageable and Amy is not planning to die by “MAiD.” It was my honor to attend Amy’s Zoom birthday party recently.

    But thanks to Compassion and Choice’s friends in Canada and the systemic ableism that is enabling their cause, the Canadian medical system would have killed Amy before providing adequate medical treatment or support.”

    She ends by stating:

    “I’ve read statements from proponents of recent assisted suicide bill’s saying that their supporters are “real people with grief and loss, not hypothetical scenarios.” Well, Amy and Rachel are not hypothetical scenarios, they are my friends. I’ve read statements describing myself and other disability rights movement opponents of assisted suicide as “abusive, bullying and cruel.” (Emphasis added)

    But I can think of few things more abusive, bullying and cruel than for a suicide prevention hotline operator to tell a caller to go ahead and be killed. I don’t want to live in that world, and like others in the disability justice movement, I won’t be quiet while the proponents lay the scaffolding for that to happen.

    I’m sorry if that makes me cruel.”

    CONCLUSION

    As I wrote in 2015:

    “In 2009, I lost my 30 year old daughter Marie to assisted suicide after using an assisted suicide technique after a 16 year battle with addiction.

    Marie’s suicide hit our family, her friends, and her therapists like an atom bomb. We had all tried for years to help her, with periods of success. Suicide was always our greatest fear, and we made sure she was armed with crisis helpline numbers and our cell phone numbers at all times. I trust in an all-merciful God Who loves my daughter as much as I do, and I don’t regret one minute of those 16 years of trying to save her.

    Both personally and professionally, as a nurse, I’ve cared for many suicidal people whose lives were saved. It’s a myth that suicidal people are destined to commit suicide eventually, and studies have shown that only 10 percent (or less, according to some studies) complete a suicide.1 I’m still determined to save vulnerable people from suicide, regardless of their age, socioeconomic status, or condition. Giving up hope is not an option.

    Not surprisingly, since suicide contagion is a recognized risk factor for suicide, one of Marie’s close friends became suicidal on the first anniversary of her suicide but was saved. Is it really just a coincidence that Oregon, which doesn’t include assisted suicide in its suicide statistics, now reports a suicide rate that’s 41 percent above the national average?4“

    But the “assisted suicide/ euthanasia” machine still rolls on in the US.

    The Patients Rights Action organization keeps track of states with bills to legalize assisted suicide and those states that defeated assisted suicide. (see state status updated 5/29/2025)

    Please check the status in your state and take the necessary action.

    We cannot become like Canada!

    “I Thought I Was a Useless Old Woman!”

    nancyvalko aging, culture, nursing

    I decided to become a nurse when I was five and received a Golden book titled “Nurse Nancy”.

    I loved the stories about how this little girl helped the other children in the neighborhood by applying bandaids and comfort

    I also had two wonderful grandmothers and so becoming a grandma became my other life goal. Since both were widowed and aging, I was able to help.

    When I finally achieved my RN, I took my new degree to my father’s mother and she was delighted. “Think of all the people you will help!” I replied “Not as many as you have!’

    She was stunned and said ” I am a useless old woman living alone and dependent on family” until I told her how much I admired her dedication to prayer.

    Every since I was a little girl, my mother told my brothers and me that we were not to call Grandma between the hours of noon and three. As a devout Catholic, she dedicated those hours to praying for the poor souls in purgatory and for those people who had no one to pray for them. I told her that she helped many more people than I could as a nurse.

    She burst into tears and said “I thought I was a useless old woman!”

    CONCLUSION

    I was honored to love and help care for both my grandmothers as they aged and eventually died. Both were examples to me as they helped whoever they could.

    And I learned that being a nurse is more than just caring for the physical needs of a patient. The emotional and spiritual needs of patients-and family-are just as important.

    Shocking New York Times Article Shows Planned Parenthood in Crisis

    nancyvalko abortion, culture, law, medical ethics, Planned Parenthood, pro-life

    In a shocking February 15, 2025, New York Times article titled A Crisis at Planned Parenthood: What to Know, author Katie Benner writes that “Planned Parenthood clinics around the country are facing complaints of substandard health care and poor morale amid chronic funding problems, a New York Times investigation found.” (Emphasis added)

    She also writes that:

    “While Planned Parenthood is synonymous with abortion, the organization also provides basic health care to millions of​ Americans who have few other options. Financial strains now undermine those services.

    A New York Times review found that the clinics have been in decline for decades, undermined by structural and political headwinds and left to make do as national leaders prioritized the fight for abortion rights over finding a more sustainable way to fund health care. (Emphasis added)

    Planned Parenthood’s health care operation has shrunk from a high of 5 million patients served across 900 clinics in the 1990s to 2.1 million patients and 600 clinics today, with staff members complaining that patient care is compromised by low salaries, chronic understaffing, high turnover, inadequate training and aging facilities.” (Emphasis added)

    Katie Benner also writes: “Here are four takeaways from the reporting:

    “Planned Parenthood may need structural reform

    Few people outside the organization understand that there is a significant difference between the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the national office that most people associate with the brand, and the 49 Planned Parenthood affiliates located across the country. The national office does not provide health care. Rather, it funds legal, political, and public opinion work that supports abortion rights. The clinics are run by the affiliates, which are stand-alone nonprofit organizations.

    The affiliates have been buffeted for years by political challenges that hurt their ability to raise the money necessary to cover procedures that patients cannot afford.

    For the past two decades, leaders say they had to prioritize the fight for abortion rights over clinics because the political fight was fundamental to the organization’s ability to operate. They argue that the organization managed to deliver quality health care, despite increasing financial constraints. Yet clinics have degraded over time.” (All emphasis added)

    Clinics nationwide face financial problems

    “While affiliates in more liberal states like New York and California have had an easier time fund-raising than their counterparts in states with a strong anti-abortion sentiment, rising health care costs and the lingering effects of the pandemic have taken a financial toll on all clinics. Planned Parenthood of Greater New York — one of the few places where abortion is still legal up to 24 weeks — said that a budget shortfall would force it to restrict later-term abortion services, effectively implementing a 20-week abortion ban. (All emphasis added)

    Planned Parenthood of Northern California made a hard funding choice “last March when it ended a prenatal care program that served 200 to 250 low-income women a month. And Planned Parenthood of Northern New England expects to run an $8 million deficit over the next three years.

    While affiliates in more liberal states like New York and California have had an easier time fund-raising financial toll on all clinics. Planned Parenthood of Greater New York — one of the few places where abortion is still legal up to 24 weeks — said that a budget shortfall would force it to restrict later term abortion services, effectively implementing a 20-week abortion ban.

    Planned Parenthood of Northern California made a hard funding choice last March when it ended a prenatal care program that served 200 to 250 low-income women a month. And Planned Parenthood of Northern New England expects to run an $8 million deficit over the next three years.” (All emphasis added)

    Patients have felt the effects

    “Patients and employees said that clinics are operating like “ a conveyor belt” for patients, leading to botched IUD placements and abortions, patients prepped for the wrong procedures, and other errors, according to legal filings, complaints and interviews. (All emphasis added)

    Planned Parenthood has been accused of improperly implanting a birth control device and causing nerve damage; inserting an IUD in a woman who was four months pregnant, and failing to upload sexually transmitted infection test results into charts, leading patients to wrongly believe that their results were negative.”

    Employees are feeling the pressure

    “Employees said there has been constant pressure to more than double the number of patients seen from the present 2.1 million, to help bring in more revenues, with management asking staff to see more than four patients an hour. That is in line with a trend in health care, widely unpopular with both patients and doctors, to keep primary care visits to about 15 minutes. But clinic staff members said that they needed more than 10 to 15 minutes to care for patients who often face literacy and language barriers or face social ills like housing insecurity, abuse and poverty.

    Staff members who have decried the conditions are beginning to unionize to push back on demands that they say undermine Planned Parenthood’s mission.”

    CONCLUSION

    Although abortion is supposed to be only about a woman’s right to choose, the repercussions for all involved are devastating. Abortion is not the answer and we all need to offer help and support to desperate women and their families.

    Hawaii Doctor Investigated for Assisted Suicide Murder

    nancyvalko assisted suicide, conscience rights, culture, end-of-life, law, medical ethics

    A January 8, 2025 news article in the Hawaii Free Press titled “Hawaii Doctor under Investigation for Murder in Woman’s Assisted Suicide Death” reveals that authorities are investigating a doctor for murder after police say he administered assisted suicide drugs to a woman.

    Under Hawaii’s assisted suicide law passed in 2018, patients who have been approved for “assisted death” are required to self-administer the lethal dose of drugs.

    The newspaper states:

    “In this case, the 73-year-old doctor allegedly broke the law and assisted his 88-year-old patient in taking the lethal medication on October 9, 2024. According to the police report, at one point the woman was starting to choke and motioned for the doctor to stop — but he continued, causing her death. After an autopsy, the Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide. According to Island News, the doctor is being investigated for second-degree murder, but as of yet no charges have been filed.” (All emphasis added)

    In his January 4, 2025 Medical Futility blog titled “MAID Noncompliance Leads to Murder Investigation, assisted suicide supporter Thaddeus Pope, JD.Phd. states:

    “All U.S. MAID laws require that the patient self-administer the medications (typically DDMA-Ph). When someone else administers the medications, that is not MAID. Instead, that is assisted suicide which remains criminally prohibited in all U.S. jurisdictions including those that permit MAID. ” (Emphasis added)

    CONCLUSION

    A report released in February 2024 showed that 166 people had died by assisted suicide in Hawaii since its legalization in 2018. According to KTVZ, this is the first homicide investigation related to the OCOCA.

    Suicide- medically assisted or not- is never a death with dignity for anyone!

    Vindication: The Great Barrington Declaration

    nancyvalko Covid 19, culture, education, law, medical, mental health

    President-elect Donald Trump has just nominated Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford professor and an outspoken critic of Covid lockdowns as well as the co-author of The Great Barrington Declaration, to head the National Institutes of Health. I am delighted, especially since I wrote a March 2021 blog titled “Is it possible that there is a light at the end of the Covid tunnel?”

    Here are some excerpts from my 2021 blog:

    “My husband and I just returned from a trip to Florida where we were happily surprised to find the closest place to normal since the Covid 19 pandemic started. Everyone wore masks (except one young man we saw at a distance) and everyone was careful about social distancing. Hand sanitizers were everywhere.

    Best of all, people seemed happy and we saw very few stores closed.

    When we returned home, we both finally received the first of our 2 Covid 19 vaccination doses.

    IS FLORIDA A HARBINGER OF GOOD NEWS?

    Florida was among the last states to go into lockdown and one of the first states to ease restrictions.Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis was vilified by many in the media for adopting something similar to Sweden’s strategy of protecting the vulnerable while keeping businesses and schools open but a year after the pandemic hit the US, that strategy seems to be working.

    Despite having the second largest number of elderly people by state, Florida’s Covid death rate numbers are better than New York’s and California’s. And, unlike so many other states, Florida’s economy is thriving.

    Now, Governor Abbott of Texas and Governor Reeves of Mississippi have announced that they would be lifting their states’ mask mandates and rolling back many of their Covid-19 health mandates.”

    WHAT HAPPENED?

    It has been almost a year since the U.S. went on lockdown for Covid 19 when President Trump declared Covid 19 a national emergency on March 13, 2020.

    At first, the lockdown was only supposed to be for a few weeks to “flatten the curve” of infections and prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed by Covid patients.

    However, as the lockdowns wore on for months, some doctors and other experts started warning about the emotional and health damage occurring.

    Although it received little media notice, a May 19, 2020 letter titled “600 Physicians Say Lockdowns Are A ‘Mass Casualty Incident’” was sent to President Trump that detailed the physical and mental impact of the lockdown in the US due to Covid 19, calling it a “mass casualty incident” with “exponentially growing negative health consequences” to millions of non-COVID patients. 

    The doctors’ letter also stated that: “Keeping schools and universities closed is incalculably detrimental for children, teenager and young adults for decades to come.”

    Then on October 4, 2020, the Great Barrington Declaration was written and released and eventually signed by thousands of doctors and experts from around the world. The Declaration encouraged governments to lift lockdown restrictions on young and healthy people while focusing protection measures on the elderly, stating:

    “Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice. “

    CONCLUSION

    Now it is 4 years since the Covid pandemic started and we can see that Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and the other medical and public health scientists, medical practitioners, etc. who signed the Great Barrington Declaration were right, despite all the criticism from the media and others.

    I personally hope that Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is confirmed as head of the National Institutes of Health.