You are reading a fully vaccinated columnist. Feel free to take your mask off.
I had my second Pfizer dose last week and within a couple of weeks I’ll be legal to lick the bar room floor and not catch anything, I think. Anyway, having had a mild COVID case in October, I can tell you that the vaccine process was relatively simple and side effects were minimal. In my case, the first dose gave me some of the COVID-like symptoms (headache, fatigue) on the first night after the shot, but went away within 48 hours. The second dosage, I did not have any symptoms. Put that in an Excel spreadsheet and make your vaccine decision accordingly.
Hy-Vee was my vendor of choice and I was impressed with the rollout. I’m not sure sticking a needle in your arm and writing it on a card qualifies as complex, but I’m no Dr. Fauci.
The next big moment in history is about to start in Minnesota. The Derek Chauvin case gets started this week and it’s unfortunate what is going to happen. Two distinct and different groups are using this prosecution of the police officer charged with killing George Floyd as a litmus test for race and police relations in America. It is not.
Both groups are flat out wrong. The Black Lives Matter group has somehow equated this to a systemic race and police relation issue. The Blue Lives Matter line of thought has equated this case to a no compromise, “back the blue” type issue. Listen, George Floyd had serious flaws as a person. You can’t walk around with fentanyl in your system and not be at risk for dying. Complying with police generally diffuses these matters before they escalate. Likewise, Derek Chauvin doesn’t seem like the greatest guy ever. He seemed emotionless as he held his knee on Floyd’s neck that is alleged to have caused his death and his record appears spotty.
But this is not the police of the nation on trial. This is Derek Chauvin and this specific case. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, it has become a social construct litmus test with most already establishing their verdict without even hearing all the evidence; instead, they will rely on daily snippets fed to them by their media of choice. I don’t see a good result, regardless of what the jury decides. Prepare yourself for unrest.
I flew to Arizona for spring training last week. I was a bit shocked. The Phoenix airport was as busy as I had seen in over a decade of traveling at this time of year. Part of that is that the airlines have squeezed the flight schedule and reduced the airport usage to maximize the passengers they have, but beyond masks, I didn’t see any protocols that made flying much different than it was pre-pandemic. I can honestly tell you that this pandemic has been the most confusing thing of my lifetime and I lived through the Bob Boone years of the Kansas City Royals.
After seeing airports in action this week, I find it hard to believe that Kauffman Stadium can only host 10,000 people for opening day. I don’t think that restriction is based on any science and is simply a government overreach, but again, I’m no Dr. Fauci. It’s another sad cancellation/limit placed on the community that government has utilized to feed their drunk-on power belief that they are actually fighting this virus, when much of the evidence suggests the virus was going to win most of this battle, regardless of what local government did.
(Guy Speckman can be reached gspeckman@me.com or licking bar room floors around the metro)