A Bad Time to be Old

A Letter to Family in Disturbing Times

I live in Toronto. Much of my family still live in Alberta. Most of them do not like me. Some are more progressive.

I sometimes go back ‘home’ for a visit. With covid, that has not been possible for some years. It will not likely become possible for a few more years.

I do not think I will see some of them alive again. So, I write letters often and encourage them to write back. They are a couple of very elderly Uncles and a few cousins coming up on retirement age.

I just sent them off something wishing them a happy Easter. I also tried to impress upon them to take care of themselves during these ominous times. Most important, to not get taken in by all the crap that the pandemic is over.

It may seem like a strange thing to write. However, I know things which they need to know, about the kind of problems which are coming. What I spend much of my time at is researching and blogging about it.

As in the old Chinese curse, we are living through exciting times. We are going to live through even more exciting times before this is over. So, I ended up with a fairly long letter urging the old folks to hunker down and wait out the storm.

I have decided that it is good enough to rework as a blog post. I can make the same warning to my readers, even though most of them do not seem to live in Canada.

So I will write briefly about the international situation and how it will effect us here in Canada. In particular, possible super inflation and breakdowns in supply of food and other vital commodities. There is a serious problem with the way government is set up in Canada, and its inability to manage crisis.

Then I will get to the problem of Covid and the breakdown of the public health system. This is a very big threat to all older people, or people with medical vulnerabilities.

A Time of Turbulent Transformation

What we have seen so far is just a preliminary. We are in the terrible twenties and I believe things will get much worse before they get better. The good thing about it is that conditions could come into place after about 2030 for a new golden age like the post war period 1945 to 1975.

I got a degree in Political Science and it has completely gone to my head. However, a lot of other people are saying much the same things. We are going through a time when people, especially older people, need to keep our heads down and focus on taking care of themselves.

What is happening in the world is that the old order which has been around since 1945 is now breaking down. The root of the trouble goes back a lot further than that. There are these things called capitalism and imperialism which have been very harmful to the world and its people.

For 80 years, the American oligarchy has had hegemony over the planet. Only a few countries have been able to defy them. Now they are rapidly losing power and are unable to accept that.

There is way too much to say about this, but the danger of a world war and a nuclear war is now greater than it has ever been. The western elite, in North America and Europe, are getting desperate. Their governments are becoming increasingly undemocratic and repressive.

The economy will break down. We already have inflation and shortages of goods. These will get worse.

The big problem is that the world outside the western countries no longer want to buy from or sell to these countries. They do not want to take our currencies.

Canada is in a somewhat better position because we can still produce things which are in demand outside the western bubble. Say what you want about Liberal governments, they have not wrecked our currency by racking up huge debts which cannot be serviced. We have not wrecked our social services and social structure to the same extent as many other countries.

The kind of parliamentary government system we have will make it somewhat easier to carry out the tear down and rebuild of government which will be required. We may be able to avoid serious violence and disruption. In many other western countries, especially the USA, that seems pretty much baked into the cake.

Making Everybody Sick

Now, to the public health crisis. The single most dangerous thing for older people, or people with health problems, will be the worldwide Syndemic.

A syndemic is when multiple diseases are circulating in a population and amplifying each others effects. This is what is developing in western countries as public health systems are broken down. People’s immune systems are being depleted and diseases which are normally not a problem are becoming dangerous.

It began with Covid. It has become clear to those who know what they are talking about that Covid is something cooked up in a lab. They only remaining argument is whether it was an accident or a deliberate act.

What is really bad about covid is that people do not develop an immunity to it and it has long lasting effects for many people. Much of the public still does not realize these problems. The more times you are infected, the more likely you are to develop the “long covid” or “post covid syndrome” condition.

Covid gets established in the lymphatic system in the body and creates mini blood clots. This effects all organs of the body, including very often the brain. People develop a condition much like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia.

Oh, great! Now me and my friends in Fibro Nation will have more allies.

The worst thing about covid is that it works much like the AIDS virus in messing up the immune system. This allows all these other diseases to infect more people and more severely. It is not known how long it will take the immune system to recover, if ever.

About twenty years ago there was an outbreak of a virus which is closely related to covid 19; remember SARS? Fortunately that one was contained. However, many people who were infected from it have not recovered twenty years later and still have conditions much like Long Covid.

The death rate from covid has stabilized, but at a high level. The real danger is in the way it could degrade the health of the whole population. This would greatly effect the economy and living standards for generations to come.

Most of the world now has covid under control. The countries where it has not been brought under control are those where a part of the political establishment sees public health measures as an interference with some agenda they have. That is the case in Canada, especially in some provinces.

We are at least doing a lot better than the USA. The countries which still have a problem with covid are the ones where lunatics are allowed to spread very harmful disinformation about covid. These lunatics are known to be organized and well funded by operations like the Brownstone Institution in the USA.

This means it is very important to listen to the right people. The federal government’s web site remains the best source of basic information about covid protection and prevention. The John Snow society also has a good web site.

However, even governments and their agencies can be intimidated by these Brownstone creeps. They are trying to shut down all sources of correct information, to more effectively spread disinformation.

Their exact motivation is unclear. However, there is a black joke about retired or disabled people and covid. That is; the ruling class sees us as the disease and covid as the cure.

No really effective organization has emerged yet, which can centralize detailed information about covid and make it readily available. As well, there needs to be an organized demand for more effective prevention of disease and protection of the population.

What Governments Have to Do.

What is really needed is a strong campaign to end airborne diseases by cleanup of our air. The situation we have now is similar to the situation about 150 years back, when large cities began to grow. It became urgent to create sewer and water treatment systems to prevent mass death from waterborne diseases.

The nonsense arguments and obstruction against this, back then, were very similar to the resistance to covid measures in the present. Just as there was no choice but to clean up the water we drank back then, there is no choice but to clean up the air we breathe now.

Very large and dense cities, people living indoors in tightly sealed buildings, factory farming, air travel and lab leaks, will keep causing new airborne diseases, making older ones more dangerous, and letting them spread more rapidly. Protecting the public will mean some changes to the way things are done, which some people will not like.

It is ridiculous that government in Canada has failed to promote use of masks and explain to people how to use them right. The countries which have done best at controlling covid are where most people use masks.

There is no need to order people to wear masks. People will mostly wear them when they are explained right, and there are no creeps trying to discourage use of them.

Protecting Ourselves

What people need to do to protect themselves is not very complicated. First of all, get proper masks and use them right. Second, stay up to date on vaccines. Third, stay away from places where covid can spread.

If you get covid symptoms, insist on getting tested. Insist on getting antivirals right away. Do not trust cheap home test kits. Try hard to stay out of hospitals.

Above all, do not move into a care home. Stay in your own home or with family if at all possible. If you have to go into one, go to a publicly run one. Remember, the bastards see retired people as the problem and covid as the solution.

Think about the air where you live. Get a CO2 tester. Buildup of CO2 shows where the air is not circulating well enough.

Consider putting in HEPA grade air filters, or even ultraviolet air cleaners, with proper air exchange. You might want to assemble your own Corsi-Rosenthal box. Remember that the virus moves in the air like smoke.

If you are at work or in other places you have to be at, try and get the people in charge to put in all the 2020s stuff. That is, CO2 testers, air cleaners, and proper exchange of indoor and outdoor air. Air should change six times an hour, and even more if it is really crowded.

Obviously, insist people stay home if they are contagious. If they might be contagious, get reliable RAT testers. Or get them into masks.

You need to get N-95 masks. Make sure they are not counterfeit. Make sure you have the right size and fit.

Test for seal. This is not hard; just blow and see if you have any wind going out the sides.

You do not need to wear masks in most places. If you are outdoors in a tight crowd, put them on. If you are indoors and breathing air that was breathed out by people you do not know, put them on.

If you are likely contagious and around other people, put one on. If you are around someone likely contagious, put one on. When and where to wear one is a matter of a little knowledge and some common sense.

The other big thing to do to protect yourself is to get vaccinated. The people spreading scare stories about vaccines should be in jail. The risks of being vaccinated are many times less than of not being vaxxed.

However, there are problems with vaccines. These are mostly about the politics behind them, not the vaccines themselves. I find it impossible to say which vaccine is safest, but in Canada we are mostly forced to use the mRNA type.

Much of the hazard with vaccines seems to be about problems with manufacturing. Corners are often cut in the production process.

The Ending

This is about all I can say briefly about the Syndemic and how to protect yourselves. It is in no way over or nearly over. Historically, pandemics last 5 to 7 years.

Pandemics do not usually end when everyone develops immunity. They end when people do what they have to, to break the chain of transmission. In this case, it means cleaning up the air we breathe in the same way we once had to clean up the water we drank.

Right now there is a huge campaign to convince everybody the pandemic is over. Information is being suppressed. You will know it is really over when correct measures are put in place to control airborne diseases, modeled on those countries which have successfully done so.

So, stay secure and healthy in Alberta, and everywhere else. One of these years, the present calamities will be eased. The airline business will be straightened out. Then I will want to finally fly out west and visit some of my family and old friends, if I can still find them.